


Good Samaritan

by johnnywalkerblu



Category: Simon and Simon (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-04 17:49:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 35,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1787737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnnywalkerblu/pseuds/johnnywalkerblu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick picks up a stranded driver with a deadly problem who turns out to be a lot more than a case.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Traffic on the 5 is always for shit, but this afternoon it’s worse than terrible, and Rick Simon thinks about just yanking the wheel over and taking the Power Wagon up the embankment and hot-rodding it up onto a surface street. Probably get a ticket though, and he’s trying very hard to stay on the straight and narrow now that Simon & Simon Investigations is getting uptown. And there’s no point in it really, AJ’s expecting him back sometime, but it’s Friday afternoon and the week’s been pretty slow anyway. Just the way he likes them.

The traffic up ahead looks to be breaking up and he gets ready to bust out, then he sees the cause of all the mess. It’s a red BMW, ’74 or ’75, with a very unhappy young woman standing beside it. There’s no other vehicle, and the Beamer doesn’t have any knocks, so the damned thing must have just stopped on her. There’s nothing in between him and the open lane, but all he can think about is his mom standing there, or Janet. 

When he gets out and heads toward her, she shades her eyes against the afternoon sun and holds up a hand. “Are you a nut?”

“No, ma’am. Just a good Samaritan.”

“Well some guy in a Mercedes…well I won’t even repeat what he said because you look like a nice person.”

“So do you. Want to let me take a look at it?”

Her eyes are hazel, bright and intelligent. “With the way it got all mushy and just gave up, I think it’s a belt. But I haven’t wanted to pop the hood with a hot engine.”

Rick gives the car a look around her slender body. “Nothing leaking. I’ll take my chances. Go ahead and pull it.”

The engine’s warm but not dangerous, and he can see immediately that the lady is right in a way. It was a belt, but instead of being broken, it’s been cut. When he lifts it far enough for her to see the severed end, she pales, and scrambles out the passenger door.

What he took for fear through the windshield reveals itself to be outrage as she gets to his side. “How long ago do you think that was done?”

“Today for sure.” Turning the end slowly in his hand, he shows her more closely. “See how those ends are still fresh?”

“Shit! Pardon me.”

“I take it you know who did this.”

“I have a pretty good guess. Could you possibly give me a lift to a phone?”

“I could do better than that. I gotta guy who’ll come and get your car and have that fixed before the sun goes down. Then you can tell me who your enemy is.”

A capable hand lifts and runs through long dark hair. “He’s a young father, who’s far too young to be a father; that thinks I want to steal his little boy.”

Rick blinks. “Come again?”

The capable hand is presented to him. “Katie Burke, CPS investigator.”

Rick wipes the oil and dirt off his hand onto his jeans and shakes with her. “Rick Simon, private investigator.”

“And good Samaritan.” Her smile is wonderful, taking her face from pretty to beautiful. 

“That too. C’mon and get in the truck.”


	2. Chapter 2

Once she has her stuff and they’re heading toward the office, he turns the radio down and asks, “CPS, huh? That must be tough.”

“It is. But I love doing it. Every child ought to have someone to stand up for them. It’s terrifying for them when the person who’s supposed to care for them the most is the one that hurts them. I like to think I help them gain a little power, or at least some peace. Because it’s not just the pain, it’s the humiliation. They all think they did something to deserve it. I hate that.” When he looks at her again, she’s blushing. “Now you’re thinking, ‘no wonder someone tried to get rid of her.’”

“Nope. I’m thinking that the kids that get you called out are probably the luckiest ones in the bunch.”

That smile again. “Thank you.”

“So what’s up with the little boy?”

“I can’t tell you. Confidentiality.”

Rick’s heard this problem before, and he uses his little brother’s very efficient way of dealing with it. “Give me a dollar.”

“Okay.” She searches through her bag and fishes out a bill. “All I have is a five.”

Rick takes it between two fingers and stuffs it into his shirt pocket. “Then you’ve retained me for five times as long.”

To her blank look, he explains, “You just hired me. Anything you tell me is automatically confidential.”

“But why…you don’t even know me.”

“Sure I do. We shook hands.”

“Seriously, though.”

“Seriously, though, I’ll bet this isn’t the first time something happened when you went to see this guy. And now that you’re thinking about it, you can remember a flat tire or a scratch down your car door. And things escalate. And by the time they do, if you’re not ready, you can get hurt pretty bad.”

When he looks over, she’s flipping through a small journal. “I did have a tire blow about six weeks ago. And you’re right; I had been there that same day.”

“You deal with people same as I do, you know coincidence is mostly bullshit, right?”

A tired nod. “What would you do?”

“Keep track of you the next time you go there. Look around a little. Push a little. See who pushes back.”

“I can’t pay you much. Public servant salary.”

“You gave me five bucks. That’s more than I made the rest of the day.”

“Really?” 

“Really.”

Rick realizes that she’s staring at him, and it takes him a minute to pick up on what’s caught her attention. It’s his MIA, shining mellowly on his wrist. She looks up and those beautiful hazel eyes meet his. “Did you serve?”

“Marine Corps. ’67 to ’71. Two tours with Charlie.”

“Back to back? You brave or crazy?”

“Convinced I was invincible I guess.”

“Apparently you were.”

“A lot of guys weren’t.”

“My dad always said all gyrenes were crazy anyway.”

“He a Marine?”

“No. He was Navy. Fighter pilot. He was shot down in February of ’68.”

“I’m sorry.”

She nods. “Thank you.”

“Thank you. He was probably up there covering my ass while we tried to get Hue City back from Charlie.”

“That’s exactly what he was doing.”

“He must’ve been a career man. And that makes you a Navy brat.” Rick teases gently.

The smile is starting to get into his head. “Twice over. My granddad was a destroyer captain. He fought in the Pacific. All by himself against a thousand Japanese, if you believe his stories. But he’s an Irishman, so he kind of gets a pass on bullshit.”

“He still around?”

“Yes. He’s at Chula Vista, in the Vet home there. I didn’t want him to go, but he insisted. I was having a hard time taking care of him by myself and trying to get to my classes. That’s where I was on my way to when the car crapped out, to see him.”

Rick takes the exit and turns hard left into the parking lot, going the wrong way, but only for a little while. “Here’s the office. Come on in and we’ll get you squared away.”


	3. Chapter 3

AJ is drowsing over the case file spread open on his desk. They’ve both been listed as witnesses for a case that’s coming up next week, and the prosecutor is on them to make sure that they give the evidence in a consistent manner. He’ll probably end up being the one that gets called, especially after Rick snarled at the guy for the coaching he tried to give during their first interview.

He jumps when the door bangs open to admit a pretty young woman and his errant brother. Rick sits the girl in the client chair and tosses his keys on his desk. “AJ, this is Katie Burke. Katie, this is my little brother, AJ.”

“Hello.” Her hand is offered and he gets to his feet and shakes it.

“Hello.” He looks around for Rick, but he’s rummaging in the refrigerator. “Ummm….”

“My car broke down on the Five and Rick rescued me.”

This girl is definitely not the kind of girl that his older brother usually picks up, so that may actually be true. “Really?”

“Really.” Rick sets an opened bottle of Sprite down in front of her on AJ’s desk. “Give her the phone kid. She needs to make a call.”

AJ shoots a glance at Rick and turns his phone so she can dial, watching her take a sip of soda while it rings on the other end.

“Grandpa? Hey. Yeah, I’m going to be late. No, not work. My car…um…it…yes, yes, I’m fine. It wasn’t an accident, just a belt. Yes. Yes. Not yet. I got a ride. From a very nice man who used to be a Marine. Yes, a jarhead. Your Navy’s showing, old man. Grandpa, you don’t…okay, okay. Wait a sec.”

The handset is presented to Rick with a smile that can only be described as gorgeous. “You’re up. He’s very protective.”

“I don’t blame him.” Rick growls, then, “Yes, sir?” into the phone. AJ smiles as his brother’s voice takes on a tone he rarely hears. “Yes, sir. Rick Simon. Company F, Second Battalion, Fifth Marines, sir. Enlisted in August of ’67 and mustered out a Staff Sergeant in August of ’71. I can even recite my service number if necessary, sir.” The response from the other end brings a smile to Rick’s face. “The lady is fine. Yeah, the car’ll be fine too. Just a broken serpentine belt. I’ve got a guy who’ll fix it. Of course, sir. I would be glad to bring her to you. You’re welcome, sir. Here she is.”

Rick hands the phone back and Katie bestows that smile on him again. He stands there grinning until AJ gets ahold of his sleeve and tugs him aside. “What, AJ?”

“Exactly my question. I’ve heard you do it all my life, so I know you lied to him about the belt.”

“It was cut, not broken.” Rick admits.

“Aha, so she’s a client. And this is going to be one of those jobs. The ones where we don’t get paid.”

Rick smiles and reaches into his shirt pocket. “We got a retainer.” 

Abraham Lincoln makes AJ grimace. “This buys her exactly six minutes of our time, Rick. She spent that in your truck on the way here.”

“She needs our help, AJ. I couldn’t just drive by her, and you wouldn’t have either.”

The younger brother hears another distinctive tone in the older brother’s voice. It’s commitment and kindness and caring; the side of Rick that comforted and protected him throughout their childhood, and makes animals, kids, and old ladies head straight for him. “So what are we going to do?”

“I’m going to call Chapo and have him pick up her Beamer. Then we’re gonna get the rest of her story.”


	4. Chapter 4

AJ has poured himself a glass of ice water, and Rick hands Katie another soda, asking “So what about the kid you went to see today? Wanna give us the background?”

“But Grandpa…”

“We have to wait for Chapo’s cuate to give him your keys anyway.”

Katie’s eyes brighten. “Hablas espanol, eh?”

“Bastante. Tu?”

“Es necesario en el barrio.”

AJ is looking from one of them to the other, at a loss, so Rick goes back to English. “My best friend growing up is Latino, so, yeah, I got a pretty good handle on it. It was that or be on the shit end of all the jokes.”

“They told me to force my visits to be conducted in English, but you learn a lot more when you let people tell you things the way they’re comfortable telling you.” Katie takes a deep breath. “So…I was contacted by Homicide in early November last year. A young mother was found strangled in her duplex. Her baby was about eighteen months old, and his grandmother, the father’s mother, had gone over to help with the baby, like she did every day, and found the girl dead.”

“How’d they do it?” Rick asks quietly, staring out the window. “Towel? Sheet?”

“Nothing. Just hands, I was told. She wasn’t very big, poor thing. Maybe ninety pounds.”

“How old was she?” AJ asks, making notes.

“Seventeen. The baby, Mateo is his name, was actually almost two.”

“Her name?”

“Antonia Herrera.”

“The father?” Rick asks. “Where was he?”

“His name is Mateo Aguilar. And he couldn’t be found. You know how it is. A white cop asks a question, nobody knows anything. Especially when the cops clearly thought that if they caught him they’d have their murderer.”

“But he’s around now?” Rick clarifies. “Cause you saw him today?”

“The stupid thing is the police had him all the time. He was in jail when Antonia was killed. They’d picked him up over on Loma in one of their ‘where are your papers’ bullshit busts.”

“That’s wildly illegal.” AJ puts in, and they both give him a disgusted look.

“Very few people give a shit how the Hispanic population of this city is treated, AJ.” Katie explains. “Lawyers don’t listen unless there’s money and the power structure likes things just like they are.”

“And you just keep on pitching.” Rick is turning his lighter over and over in his hand. “Brave or crazy?”

Their eyes meet, and for a long moment AJ feels invisible. “Except I know I’m not invincible.” Katie murmurs. “I guess maybe I’m kidding myself, but I hope I’m doing some good instead of just ignoring the problems.”

“So a teenaged mother is strangled, her husband…were they married?” AJ flips his page and continues writing. 

“Yes. I understand that her father facilitated it with a twelve gauge in hand.”

“Good for him.” Rick snorts.

“…her husband’s in jail during the estimated time of the crime. His mother comes over…how far away does she live?”

“Down the block about four houses.”

“By herself?”

“Oh no. She’s got kids in grade school herself. I know there’s a husband somewhere, but I’ve never seen him. His name is Hernando. They call him Papa Nando, so I don’t know whose father he actually is, I guess.”

Rick sets his lighter on his desk and reaches for the phone. “We’d better find him first thing.”

“Why?” Katie asks softly.

“Cause you don’t strangle someone if you’re there to steal a TV. Manual strangulation not only requires time and persistence, but it’s usually also someone who wants to see the exit up close and personal.”

“It tends to be a crime of passion.” AJ says softly as Rick dials. “Which, generally speaking, is only possible if it was someone she knew.”

Katie starts to speak, but stops when Rick says, “Eh! Vato!” into the phone. “Como esta, hermano? Bueno. I need you to find someone for me, Carlos. Without them knowing they’re being found. His name’s Hernando something, maybe Aguilar, they call him ‘Papa Nando’ and he lives on…”

“Reynolds Avenue. 426 East.” Katie supplies.

“426 East Reynolds Avenue. No, don’t do anything to him. Just put me onto him, I’ll do the rest. Te debo, comprendes? Hasta.”

“But why are you going to look for who killed her? I don’t even see how that’s connected to what happened to me today.”

“It’s gotta be.” Rick explains quietly. “You probably don’t even know whatever it is you know.”

“What he means is…” AJ starts.

“I get it.” Katie whispers. “I saw something. Or someone told me something. And now whoever killed her wants me to have a convenient accident. It can’t be Mateo. It just can’t be! He tries so hard. He doesn’t like me, I know that, but he listens to everything I say and he adores his little boy.”

Rick puts a calming hand over hers, knotted together on her lifted knee. “Hey, relax. We don’t know anything right now. Like I told you, we’ll look around, push a little, see what develops. I’ll take you to Chula Vista, and Chapo will fix your car and have a couple of his guys bring it out to you. Okay?”

“If anything happens, if you need anything…” AJ hands Rick their card and Rick holds it out to her. “Call us. The night number rings through to my house.”

“Okay.” The square of pasteboard is tucked safely into her purse, and she comes back with one of hers. “Pen please?”

There’s a knock on the door as she’s writing and Rick gets up to let the guy in while AJ gets his pen handed back. He fights the smile that wants to spread across his face. Pretty Katie Burke is not handing him that card. No way, no how. That’s going to Rick. Lucky bastard.

Except that Rick’s back with a skinny Mexican kid, whose name is Luis, which seems to be the only English he knows. Katie has to set the card on Rick’s desk to root through her bag for her keys, and by the time Luis has them, and all the instructions on how to drive an old BMW with a stick shift and a tricky clutch in careful Spanish, she’s kind of forgotten about it.

“Do you guys have a bathroom? Long way to Chula Vista.”

“I’ll show you.” Rick is heading back to the door, showing her the washroom at the end of the hall.

AJ is on the point of nabbing the bright white card with the California seal in the top left corner when he hears, “Touch that and I’ll drop you, kid. No joke.”

“Touch what?” he asks innocently, turning his back on the desk and trying to get hold of it with his other hand.

“The card with the beautiful woman’s number on it.” Rick closes the distance between them in two long steps and paralyzes his brother’s arm with a vicelike grip just below the bicep. “Don’t make me have to do something to you.”

Looking into Rick’s clear blue eyes, grin on his face, AJ muses for a moment on that. They haven’t physically fought in years, the last time he can remember he was seventeen and Rick was twenty-two and they were both drunk because Rick was going to Pendleton for his induction the next day. 

He tenses for a moment, trying to bait his brother into a move, but it doesn’t work. For a person with so little direction most of the time, Rick is an amazingly clear headed fighter, a trait that the Marine Corps only broadened and matured. He might be in better shape himself, but AJ knows Rick could wipe the floor with him. He never would. But he could.

“It wouldn’t work for me anyway.” he says, producing the card. Which Rick nabs from between his fingers and drops into his shirt pocket. “You’ll have noticed that instead of giving it to me, which she easily could have, she left it on your desk. I’d say that qualifies as being strictly intended for you.”

They step apart as the door jingles under the weight of the lady’s hand. “You coming with?” Rick asks softly.

“Do you want me to?”

“No. But it might be good for her grandfather to meet us both. So he knows she’s safe with you too.”

“Couldn’t hurt.”


	5. Chapter 5

The ride to Chula Vista is a normally a short one. But it’s Friday night, and there are so many people headed to Tijuana that it takes an hour. It’s not a bad hour though, as the two men spend it regaling their passenger with stories of their own trips to Mexico, and how AJ mistook a jalapeno lollipop for green apple when he was about fourteen. Not to mention how Rick spent a night in la carcel in Ensenada for public nudity on that same trip.

Rick discovers that the lady’s giggle is almost as pretty as her smile, and AJ discovers yet again that there are intelligent women that prefer his brother’s brand of good looks to his. Not that he can’t deal with that, but it’s a little strange. The girls Rick usually chases are of the sort that come over to tell him they’re not sleeping with him again, and sleep with him. Then storm off until the next time they come over to tell him he’s cut off.

Katie is not that girl, and AJ goes quiet to listen to the two of them talk to each other. He knows his brother, and he can hear that the normal Rick level of bullshit is being mostly left out; Katie’s getting the real guy. And she seems to be responding in kind, telling him where her father was stationed, the many military bases where she was raised.

“You were at Pearl when he was in action? That must’ve been hard. Wounded poured through that base in ’68 and ’69.”

“It was hard. But good, too. I carried more dinner trays and wrote more letters home than I can even remember. My mom didn’t like me doing it, but it made me feel like I was helping Dad win the war.”

There’s a look in Rick’s eyes that AJ can’t place. “You were a ward girl? Then you did help win the war, if you can call it winning. You can’t have been eighteen though. No way.”

“I lied a little. I was almost fourteen. But I was pretty mature and my dad was a wing commander, so they let me slide.”

AJ has the handle on that look now. It’s respect, touched with gratitude. “Somebody want to explain what you two are talking about?”

“Ward girls.” Rick says quietly, “Were there to help you. Bring you coffee, read to you, find a nurse if you needed one…”

“Or a chaplain.” Katie whispers.

“Write your letters, go to the PX for cigarettes.”

“Oh, damn.” Katie giggles. “I used to get in such trouble for that. The nurses would tell you all the things you weren’t allowed to do…”

“And that would be the first thing us guys would ask.”

“The healthier ones of you anyway. Some guys just wanted someone to listen to them, or a hand to hold while they talked about…”

“How they got there.” Rick sounds ancient, and AJ takes a quick look over. 

“They would tell you those things?” AJ asks. “Tell you…”

“How they never saw the sniper. How they were thinking of a cold beer instead of the recon when they tripped the mine. Why their chute got fouled. All kinds of things.”

“Things they couldn’t say to anyone else.” Rick growls. Then he smiles over at their passenger. “From one of the many wounded; thank you, Miss Katie.”

“You are entirely welcome, Marine. That was one of the first rules; we weren’t supposed to call them by name, not even by rank, only Marine, Sailor, Soldier, or Airman. And they could only call us Miss or Mrs. Whatever. Did you evac to Pearl, Rick?”

The big freeway sign announcing the Veteran’s Home slides past AJ’s window, and Rick hits the blinker and takes the exit before answering. “Nope. Not that lucky. It was Tokyo for me. Patched the holes and mailed me back on the next gunship.”


	6. Chapter 6

Rick pulls into a parking space and shuts the truck off, and AJ gets out and helps Katie down. “This place is huge. Where exactly does your grandfather live?”

Before she can answer, Rick joins them and motions toward the west side of the complex. “Most of the older guys are over there somewhere…”

“He’s in South Blue 4.” Katie is shouldering her bag and heading toward the buildings. “Come on. Both of you. You’re not getting out of this. He likes to know what I’m doing and who with, even though I’m not fifteen anymore.”

The building is big and airy, doing its best not to resemble the hospital it actually is, with lots of plants and fish tanks, and padded benches.

“This is nicer than my last vacation.” AJ observes quietly, and Rick responds just as quietly, “They deserve it. Most veteran’s facilities are shitholes.”

Katie leads the way down a long hallway to an end room on the first floor. “He has a single. That’s the one thing I wasn’t compromising with him on.” She knocks on the door, hard, calling, “Grandpa? It’s Katie.”

“Come in, my Katielove. I’ve just sat down…”

Katie turns to them with a toned down version of that gorgeous smile, opening the door. “Come on, guys.”

The room is small, but it seems more spacious because it’s the corner, and because there are two windows, both open to catch the evening breeze from offshore. It’s also very neat. The bed and nightstand in one corner, the television in another, a small table, four chairs. Under the window is another table with a mini-fridge under it and a toaster oven on top, plus a box of corn flakes, an open bag of black licorice, and a glass of iced tea. And pills, bottles of them.

Katie drops her bag next to the licorice and bends to hug and be hugged by the old man in the room’s only comfortable chair. A hard-used aluminum walker is parked close, within easy reach. “Ah, Katie. My own. You are all right then, not spinning an old man a cheering tale.”

“I learned my lesson a long time ago about lying to you.” She straightens up and moves back. “Grandpa, I want you to meet Rick and AJ Simon.”

He’s an old man, but not a small one. If he could still stand up straight, he’d probably be Rick’s height. His hair is that kind of perfectly white that only movie grandfathers seem to have, and his eyes are a piercing green, shining with that same intelligence that is so present in his granddaughter. A gnarled hand goes for the crossbar of the walker, and Rick jumps forward.

“Don’t get up, sir. You’ve earned the rest.”

A broad grin sweeps across stern features. “You must be the jarhead.”

“I certainly was.” Rick sticks out his hand. “I’m Rick.”

“Cameron Burke; forcibly retired from active service by an enemy shell off of Inchon.”

“Quite a battle. This is my younger brother, AJ.”

AJ steps in and shakes the old man’s hand, noting the strength of the grip, despite the twisted fingers. “Pleased to meet you, sir.”

“And I you. I thank you both for the care you’ve taken of my young one. I’d not know what to do without her.”

Rick reaches in his pocket for the card with Chapo’s phone number on it. “It was a pleasure. Here’s the guy who’ll be bringing her Beamer back. We gave him this number and told him to call when they headed out.” 

“What’ll I owe them?” The old man asks.

“Nothing. Guy who owns the place is an old friend; we sorta work on the barter system. He owes me one less or I owe him one more. It’s not like we actually keep track.”

“It was kind of you to stop and help her.” A sly, speculating smile appears on the old man’s face. “Out of character for a leatherneck, if you ask me.”

“Good thing no one asked you, Grandpa.” Katie admonishes. “I’m going to walk them out.”


	7. Chapter 7

She takes them as far as the door to the wing. “I’ll call you later. I won’t be going to see Mateo for a couple of weeks.”

“Is that your usual schedule?” AJ asks. “Same day, every two weeks?”

“I try to keep it that way. Unless he makes a specific request that I come out.”

Rick’s attention is focused on Katie’s face. “Has that ever happened?”

“Once. Mateo, the baby, was very sick, and all the grandmother wanted to do was pray over him and sacrifice small animals. So Mateo called me and I got them into an outpatient clinic right away.”

“Anything happen to your car that day?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember there being anything, but I can check my journal.”

“Do that. Call the night number. One of us’ll be around.”

“Okay.” She turns to AJ with a smile. “Thank you, AJ. I know I’m probably the most boring case ever, but I really appreciate your help.”

“You’re not a bit boring, and you’re welcome.”

The younger brother can’t hide his smile when their client turns toward the older brother and takes his hand. “Thanks, Marine.”

“You’re welcome. Not often I find something so nice by the side of the road.”

“True.” AJ interjects. “Last time it was an old radio, complete with cabinet.”

“It still worked, AJ.”

“It was older than you are, Rick. It makes a nice doorstop though.”

“Seriously.” Rick says, ignoring his brother by long habit. “Take a look in your book and call me, okay? We’ll talk, make a plan.”

“I will. If not tonight, tomorrow. The old man’s going to need some reassuring that I’m okay and everything’s fine.”

“I don’t blame him. You go on and get back to him. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Rick watches her go for a long minute, and AJ moves over to take a long look as well. “That the view you got on the freeway?”

“Nope. But it is a very nice view indeed.”

AJ doesn’t really want to say it as they turn to leave, but he knows he has to, for his own peace of mind. “She’s a client…”

“I know!” Rick is fishing for his keys. “I know, damn it.”

“Not to mention…” AJ teases his brother as they get into the Power Wagon, “…if I was hearing it right, the year she was almost fourteen, you were twenty-five.”

“Don’t remind me.” Rick growls, stabbing the key into the ignition and starting the engine.

“Were they really that important?” AJ asks softly as Rick pulls back onto the freeway. “Those girls?”

Rick says nothing for a long minute, then nods. “They sure as hell were. You spent a hellacious long time out in the bush surrounded by shouting and swearing and ordnance and gunfire, then you took a round or some shrapnel, and woke up in the first clean bed in months, with those soft female voices all around you. Heaven. They were good sports too, those girls.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. She didn’t mention that they’d also hold the basin while you threw up, help the nurses change dressings, and empty bedpans.”

“But thirteen years old? That seems awfully young.”

“It is. Especially in the kind of wards she’d have been in at Pearl. But she seems like the kind of person who could handle it. I didn’t tell you, but when I showed her the cut end of the belt, she got pissed off, not terrified. Girl’s got guts.”

AJ nods. That’s the quality that’s got Rick interested. He has no time for people who fold when the going gets tough. The fact that Katie is about as natural as it gets, from the lack of makeup to the lack of girly bullshit, doesn’t hurt. Nor does the fact that she’s tall and shapely and has that gorgeous smile. “We’ll get to the bottom of it for her. Then you can test how far her grandfather’s dislike of the Marines goes.”

“Typical Navy crap.” Rick growls. “Want some dinner on the way home?”


	8. Chapter 8

Rick’s watching USC trounce Cal in football and drinking a beer when the phone rings. AJ’s on the other end of the sofa with checkbook and pen, figuring out which bills he can pay, and looking up whenever his brother’s cursing gets too loud. “Want me to get that? It’s probably Katie.” AJ asks.

The TV is muted in a quick snap and all AJ sees is the flash of white socks as Rick goes over the sofa’s back, scattering cushions. “Guess not.”

“Hello. Hey…hello. You got your car? Good. Yeah, Chapo does good work. You didn’t have to do that. Well, I’m sure Luis and Benny appreciated the twenty bucks but…you did?” Rick reaches the pad and pen from the drawer and settles himself on the stool. “Okay go. Yeah…yeah…right…so three times, four if you count today. All right. AJ and I’ll head over there and do a little recon tomorrow and come see you after, that work? Okay, good. Anything happens that concerns you, anything at all, you call here right away, understand? Okay, yeah, we’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

The handset hits the cradle, and the cushions dip again as Rick climbs over the back of the sofa and sprawls in his corner again. “She found three times in her journal when she was there and something happened. January 14th she ran out of gas as soon as she hit the freeway to head back to her office, May 6th she found a crack in her windshield when she got back in at his house, but assumed it happened on the drive and she just didn’t notice, August 24th her tire blew on the on-ramp, then today, the belt.”

“Escalating.” AJ murmurs, sealing the envelope to the phone company.

“Yeah, but all things that could be explained away if she happened to connect them. And not overt, because whoever it is clearly knows that Katie hasn’t picked up on the importance of whatever it was they’re worried about her knowing.”

“So whatever she saw or heard was between the time she first went out in November and the first incident in January.”

“Got to be.”

“Might be good to get her notes from the visits in that interim. See if we can get anything out of them. See what she remembers too.”

“We can have that conversation with her tomorrow, after we hit the neighborhood.”

Gathering his envelopes into a pile so he can start licking stamps, AJ asks, “How are we going to hit the neighborhood? You can probably work a way to fit in there, but me?”

“I got that figured already, kid. Here’s what we’re going to do.”


	9. Chapter 9

AJ runs a hand down his pale blue tie and takes a deep breath. He hates playing tight-assed white yuppie, but Rick’s idea had been a good one. Taking a look at his watch, he starts the Camaro and swings into traffic, turning down the street that Rick told him to. It’s so clearly the start of the barrio that it doesn’t need a sign, and AJ slows, going through the motions of inspecting the people in the yards and on the street corners, making sure that everyone sees him so that the back-fence telegraph can get to work.

Rick is squatting against a low slump block wall in the side parking lot of the tiny market on the corner about six blocks down from where AJ is making himself obvious. He came in early, around dawn, when all the other guys gathered, waiting for the white men in the big pickups to come and offer them twenty bucks to move furniture, or carry buckets, or clean a yard today. He’d become one of them very easily, speaking nothing but Spanish, bumming a few cigarettes, and sharing a communal lunch of beans and tortillas warmed over a trash can barbeque. And the short stocky kid in the beat up Red Wings and the safety green T-shirt who gave him a Lucky Strike and then a light is none other than Mateo Aguilar.

A couple more turns and AJ catches a glimpse of the market they talked about. Pulling to the curb, he asks a group of teenage girls where he can hire some men and, after some chattering amongst themselves, they direct him straight to the place. That ought to do it.

Dusty sneakers shuffle through Rick’s field of vision, the equally dusty kid that’s wearing them warning everyone in a low voice that there’s a guy driving around, acting like he has some work to offer, but he ain’t got no pickup, and he’s dressed like la policia, so anyone who may need to get gone, should get gone. Pronto.

“Hey hermano, you don’t look so good.” Mateo leans over from his place in the scant shade of the fire hydrant and offers him another Lucky Strike from the battered pack, moving closer as his match flares to light them both. “I figured you was in some kind of trouble when I seen you this morning, down here.”

“Just trying to make ends meet, man. Can’t get any straight work, that bastard on my tail.”

Mateo lowers his voice and waves a hand up the street. “What you do to him?”

Squinting through the smoke that’s drifting between them, Rick pretends a debate with himself, then shrugs and starts into the hook. “Oh, he mighta had a wife and she mighta been one of those women who like a little danger in their lives. And she mighta taken his kid and run off to play house with the other man.”

“But she ain’t with you now?”

“Nope. Ain’t no cure for a roving eye, you know, muchacho. Haven’t seen her in a year and half. Problem with that is, he hasn’t either, and he thinks I…uh…cured her permanently.”

The younger man’s gaze, which has been flitting around the perimeter of their shoulders, rivets on Rick’s face. “He thinks you killed her, man?”

Rick grinds the butt out against the steel toe of his own scuffed work boot. “He’s got the cops thinking it too. Everywhere I go, there that bitch is, hounding me. I can’t have a beer or take a piss without looking over my shoulder to see who’s gonna roust me next.”

“Man, I know what you mean. Once people get to thinking something, it’s like you got a target on your back. I…”

Rick casts a glance over Mateo’s shoulder and sees the Camaro moving toward the parking lot with purpose. He can always count on the kid to show up at exactly the wrong moment. “Shit! There he is. I gotta move my ass.”

“Hey. Seriously. You need a place to crash once you lose him, I gotta floor that ain’t occupied. Reynolds Street. It’s about four blocks west. 439A. I’m Mateo by the way.”

Rick gets to his feet, staying calm, unobtrusively turning his back on his brother’s car and sticking out his hand. “Rick. And thanks. These alleys as narrow as they look? That asshole’s too shiny to chase me without wheels.”

“Yeah. Head south toward the train yards, all the streets dead end. Buena suerte, man.”

And then he breaks for it, cutting around behind the building as AJ stops the car and jumps out, shouting. The fence isn’t high and thankfully the boards are sturdy enough to hold as he swings over and takes off down the trash strewn alley.


	10. Chapter 10

Wrapped in one of AJ’s big blue towels, swinging the fridge open in the sun-warmed kitchen, Rick snags the last can of cold beer from the bottom shelf, pops it open, and slugs down a good half of it, wondering where the blonde kid got to. It’s been more than an hour since the parking lot, time enough for Rick to make his way back to the parked Power Wagon, drive home, and shower off the dust.

He’s been listening for the Camaro with half an ear the whole time, and he blows out a sigh, taking another long drink of beer, feeling his heart slow as he hears the car pull in. His eyes widen as he gets a look at AJ through the window over the sink, and he bites his tongue, literally and figuratively, when the side door opens.

“Wow. You’re a mess. You hurt?” 

“No.” AJ drops his keys and grabs the beer can life preserver in his brother’s hand. “Just dirty, I think.”

“Sorry. You really liked that tie.”

“Well…” AJ yanks at the knot and pulls what’s left of it over his head. “…you can give it a decent burial. Any more beer?”

The lid of the can slaps as Rick deposits thirty bucks of ruined silk. “Not cold. I’ll throw some in the freezer for you while you get cleaned up.”

“Thanks. I’d be angry at you, but you must have done quite a convincing job. They came after me like Transylvanian villagers after the Count. The kid that was leading them executed the tie with his switchblade.”

“Safety green T-shirt?”

“Yeah.” AJ’s head comes around fast. “That was Mateo?”

“That was him.”

Rick gets handed the warm dregs of his beer as AJ begins to strip out of his clothes, tossing them toward the washer at the end of the kitchen. “He’s got quite the killer instinct doesn’t he?”

“Except she wasn’t stabbed. That kid didn’t do it AJ.” 

Down to his boxers, which are relatively clean, the blond brother steps aside as Rick grabs a twelve pack of beer, flips open the left hand door and starts unloading cans into the ice maker. “What makes you say so?”

Rick shrugs, closing the door and leaning on it, tossing the empty beer carton toward the trash. “He just…I can’t see it.”

“You liked him.” AJ prods gently, trying to get to the heart of it. Where he interprets things intellectually himself, Rick receives input from the world more through feelings and behavior, which he’s rarely wrong about, but often has a hard time explaining.

“Yeah, kinda. It was the look on his face when I handed him the idea I might have murdered your wife.”

“My what?”

Rick grins at him unashamedly. “She preferred me.” 

“Of course. So why’d you kill her?”

“I only implied that I might have actually killed her. But the look on his face wasn’t fear…”

“Maybe he wasn’t afraid because he is a murderer. Did you think of that?”

“It wasn’t like that.” Rick shrugs again, rubbing a hand over his face. “I don’t have it all yet. I was invited back, however, after I lost the asshole in the suit, so…”

“So while you’re listening to his life story, the handsome young man in the suit will go see Town and have him pull the police reports on the girl’s murder; see what I can turn up there.” 

The little spray of dirt that falls when AJ runs his hand through his hair makes Rick bite his tongue again. Mostly. “They must have rolled you through that parking lot, kid. Lucky the villagers didn’t have a stake for your heart.”

AJ is trudging up the stairs. “I’ll have a stake for your heart if you used all my hot water.”

Rick has Katie’s card in front of him and the phone in hand when AJ calls back down the stairs. “And yes, you can call our beautiful client and set up a meeting.”

“How the hell did you…” Rick shouts.

The bathroom door closes on, “The asshole in the suit gets the last word!”


	11. Chapter 11

AJ catches sight of their client first. They’re meeting her at Café Crème, a nice little semi-outdoor coffee joint that is one of their favorite places. Not to mention one they can go to together, because Mike, who makes the coffee, is vegan and puts out all the organic and sugar free stuff that AJ likes. Mike’s wife, Sharla, who actually bakes the snacks, is Rick’s kind of person, believing that you can never have too much frosting on your maple-bacon donut.

Katie is sitting alone at one of the tables closest to the water, flipping the hand-written menu over and over, and AJ points her out quietly to his brother. They talked about how much to tell her on the way over, and agreed that she needs to know everything, being on the front line like she is.

“Well hello…” Rick calls as they get close. “…been waiting long?”

She turns and works up a smile, but all the cold compresses in the world can’t cover the evidence that she cried quite a bit, and they take the chairs on either side of her without a word. AJ rescues the menu and sets it aside, and Rick takes both of those restless hands in his, squeezing gently. “You okay?”

“I didn’t sleep much. After I called you, once everything got quiet and I was alone? It got in my head and it wouldn’t get out. I kept hearing things on the stairs, or in the bathroom, even though I knew there wasn’t anyone there. I was hyperaware. I still am. And I can’t stop the damned crying, either.”

Fresh tears are trickling down her flushed face, and AJ hands Rick the napkin from his setup, patting her slender shoulder gently. Rick dries her face with a reassuring smile, “Give yourself a break. I’ll bet you cry whenever you’re stressed out. It’s just the way you work it out. When it's me, I can’t sit still, gotta be on the move. AJ now, he sits and makes neat little lists of things.”

Hazel eyes focus on his. She’s getting ahold of the tiger now, instead of letting it keep hold of her. That’s progress. “What things?”

“Oh, places to see before he gets too old.” Rick gives her a teasing grin. “What he wants to be when he grows up.”

“Ways to get Rick’s boat out of my backyard. With and without the use of explosives.”

“You have a boat?” Those eyes are bright with interest again, trained on his face. He’d forgotten her bloodline there for a minute. Of course she loves the water, what could be more natural?

AJ makes a small annoyed snort. “It’s also doing time as a doorstop. A big, unsightly…”

“Good afternoon, guys. Ready to stop arguing and start ordering?” Sharla cuts in, holding her pen poised over her order pad.

AJ gives her his politest smile. “Black coffee and an organic banana muffin for me, Sharla, thank you. And a shot of responsibility for Peter Pan there.” 

“Don’t mind him, Sharla honey. He loves being a Lost Boy. Extra large black coffee and…you got any of the good stuff left from this morning?”

“I always keep a dozen hidden in case I get a regular in, you know that. There’s a least six left. How many d’you want?”

“Two. No, better make it three. I had a hard morning.”

Katie looks over as another, larger, annoyed snort comes from AJ’s side of the table. 

“For the lady?” Sharla asks.

“Coffee for me also. And…you bake all these lovely treats yourself, right?”

Sharla’s smile is pure pride. “Sure do.”

“What’s your favorite?”

“Well kiddo, when I’ve had as bad a day as it looks like you’ve had, I’d go with the chocolate éclair. Things may not actually get better, but once you’ve eaten it, you won’t care.”

The two women smile at one other. “Done.”

“Right back. I’ll just bring the whole pot and let you pour it yourselves.”

Katie is the first to break the companionable silence following Sharla’s departure toward the kitchen. “So what happened this morning? What did you find out downtown?”


	12. Chapter 12

“AJ’s favorite blue tie took one for the team.” Rick smirks at his little brother. “And I think you’re right about Mateo. He didn’t do it.”

“You don’t think so?”

“Nope. It’s just a feeling right now, I don’t have anything that rules him out, but, no, I don’t see it.”

“What do you think, AJ?”

“I was playing the heavy and then running for my life, so I can’t really say. We’d like to see your files if we could. That might give us some leads. Can you work that?”

“I’m certainly not supposed to, and you’d have to destroy them once you read them, but I can probably get you copies of my notes at least. I was going to go to the office tomorrow anyway to catch up my paperwork, so I’ll do it then. Fewer nosy coworkers.”

The coffee arrives, and AJ pours for all of them, handing cups around, while Rick gives Katie the sketch of their morning’s adventure. “Mateo invited me back if I needed a place to sleep, so I’m going to head back down there tonight and press him a little.”

“Be careful.”

Rick smiles at her. “You can count on it.”

AJ stirs a spoonful of sugar and a piece of ice into his coffee. “And I’m going to see our contact at the police department and get a copy of their file, see if there’s anything in it that will help us.”

“Then we can have a reading party. You don’t think I have anything to worry about, right? I don’t have to be looking over my shoulder? I mean…well you said things escalate.”

“You should be fine.” AJ soothes. “It would be nearly impossible for anyone to know you’ve gotten our help, so they’d have no reason to come after you.”

“And you won’t be going back down there without one of us.” Rick puts in as Sharla arrives with their sugar fix and starts setting down plates. “So you’ll be safe. The minute you feel like you’re not, you pick up the phone and call me. Here darlin, take a bite of this. Sharla makes ‘em special, maple frosting with bacon bits.”

Katie’s eyes widen as she chews, and AJ shakes his head at the look of vindication on his brother’s face. “See AJ, I’m not the only one who likes it.”

“Wow. That thing’ll put you in a coma.” A healthy sip of black coffee goes down. “Can I have some more?”

Rick laughs evilly and hands over the rest of the donut. “Another convert to the dark side of the food pyramid.”

AJ gets a little of own his back as their pretty client asks, “Why isn’t your boat in the water?”

“Well…” Rick begins. “That’s kind of a long story.”

“I can’t wait to hear the current version.” AJ mutters, though he does find himself drawn in as Rick presents a fairly accurate recounting of the case that ended with the ‘Hole in the Water’ inhabiting his back yard. 

After which Katie looks over, turning those lovely hazel eyes on him. “So you saved his life.”

There’s such gravitas in her voice and her eyes are searching his so thoroughly that he can only answer straight from the heart. “Yes. See, I came very close to drowning when I was eleven. I got pulled into a rip current. It was the most savage beating I’ve ever taken. And the only reason I didn’t die at the bottom of the Pacific ocean is trying to steal your éclair.”

“Not stealing, trading.” Rick growls, licking chocolate off his thumb. “He’s exaggerating. I was already in dutch for taking him to the beach on my dirt bike, Mom would’ve grounded me for weeks if I came home without him.”

Katie’s gaze hasn’t shifted. A man could certainly get lost in those eyes. “That’s not the whole reason…” she encourages gently.

“Well, no.” AJ finds himself admitting. Then he finds himself admitting even more. “Our father was killed in a car accident when I was five. We promised then that if we ever needed each other, we’d always show up.”

“How old were you?” Katie asks softly, touching Rick’s hand where it’s wrapped tightly around his coffee cup.

“Ten.”

“No wonder you were so understanding about me losing my dad. He was shot down…” she adds, to AJ concerned look. “…in Vietnam.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry too, for both of you. Losing a parent sucks in ways other people never even consider.”

“Well then, if anybody can help that little boy it oughta be us, right?” Rick reaches for his wallet and lays out for the bill Sharla left. “Let’s get moving.”


	13. Chapter 13

AJ’s three sheets to the wind when he hears the rattle of the shade on the kitchen door; and he turns to the half-open bedroom door, waiting. He half sits when he hears the shivery clink of the liquor bottles on the counter, pulling himself up all the way at the thump of Rick’s boots on the stairs.

His brother is a darker shadow in the doorway, and the sharp scent of Don Diablo is on the waft of breeze that comes with him.

“You awake, kid?”

“Yeah. You okay?”

There’s a heavy sigh and a heavier thump as Rick lowers his ass to the floor beside the bed and leans his head against the mattress. AJ hears the slosh as the tequila bottle is tipped for considerably more than a double shot – maybe a quintuple or so. “I will be, I guess.”

AJ waits a moment to see if there’s going to be more. Rick had taken himself off around sundown, planning to get a better take on Mateo and find out why he felt like he had a target on his back. Maybe get some information on the family situation. “Did you see Mateo?”

“Oh yeah. Saw him. Saw the house he grew up in. Met his mom and his brothers and sisters. Wish I hadn’t.”

“Rick…?”

“It’s a drug house, AJ.”

“Mateo’s house is a drug house? I…”

“No. Not Mateo’s house. The mother-in-law’s. Papa Nando’s dealer heaven. That house.” The bottle sloshes again. “Papa brings it in, Mama packages it up and then you got a nine year old kid with the shit in one pocket and a roll of bills in the other. Sell you a speedball while he’s eating a grape ice pop.”

“A speedball is…?”

“Fucking lethal. Cocaine and heroin. One in each arm usually.”

“My god.” AJ breathes. “Does Mateo know?”

“We didn’t talk about it, but there’s no way he couldn’t. Everybody fucking knows!”

AJ’s hand stills the bottle mid-slosh. “Stop, huh. Please? It won’t help and I’ll just end up having to dump you in the canal again.”

“Those kids, AJ. Goddamn it! Three girls, two boys, not one of them older than fifteen. That’s the house that needs Katie.” Glass chatters as the Don Diablo meets the tumbler of water on the night table, and AJ stills them with a surreptitious hand, checking the cap on the bottle and setting it back far enough that Rick can’t reach it.

“Carlos called while you were gone. He said his contacts didn’t want to have anything to do with Papa Nando, whose real name is Hernando Suarez, by the way. They weren’t overjoyed to be asked about him, and wouldn’t give any details other than that no one’s seen him in a while, and they’re just as happy to let it stay that way.”

Rick’s hauling his boots off, and his words are punctuated by the sharp clunk of heels on the carpet. “No one’s seen him, huh? Maybe since about last November?”

“So he strangles the girl, his sort-of daughter in law, for which we have no reasonable motive, disappears…then comes back intermittently, long enough to try to kill, accidentally by the way, a woman who’s never even seen him? Sounds like one for Agatha Christie.”

“Besides which, whether he killed the girl or not, if he wanted a piece off the board he wouldn’t fuck around. He can’t afford to. He’d hit Katie once, hard, and punch her ticket.”

“What about mama?” 

There’s a deep breath in from the floor, where Rick has slipped flat. “What about her? The same no reasonable motive applies. She’s got her setup just like she wants it, no reason to kill the girl and draw attention.”

“No. True enough, I guess. If it’s there I’m too tired to see it. Whatever it is.”

“Me too. Didja get the file from Town?”

“It’s on the table downstairs with my notes from the phone call with Carlos.” AJ slides back down under his covers, yawning. “Hey. You. C’mon. Don’t fall asleep there. Your leg’s going to talk to you all day tomorrow and…”

A soft snore interrupts him, and he rolls out, taking the second bed pillow and snaring a couple of afghans from the latest pile from their mother’s card cum sewing cum gossip club. AJ tucks Rick in, getting the pillow under his head, cushioning the old war wound from the hard floor with one blanket and covering him warmly against the chilly October night with the other.

As AJ gets himself settled in his own bed again, he thinks about that morning, about how Katie got them both to talk about Jack. Just a little mind you, but still something that’s almost completely off limits even between them, much less around other people. Antonia had friends, parents, maybe siblings. The police report has the slimmest possible mention of them, but it’s a start. And bringing Katie together with them might open another avenue, or at least clear the roadblocks from the one they’re on. Because, as usual, what seemed simple is anything but, and those kids Rick saw tonight need saving just as much as Katie does. Rick’s going to insist on it, so there’s going to need to be a plan. But that’s a thought for tomorrow, when they’ve all had some rest. So he relaxes, timing his breathing to his brother’s the way he used to do when he was small, and letting sleep have its way.


	14. Chapter 14

A cold nose in his ear wakes Rick from a sound sleep and Marlowe whines way down in his chest, resting back on his haunches, tail waving. Finding the big furry head without opening his eyes, Rick scratches the mastiff’s ears companionably. AJ’s couch seems awfully hard this morning, and he shifts around for a long minute before it dawns on him that he’s on the floor. Then the whole previous night floods in and he groans softly, cracking an eyelid to check his watch, pulling himself to a sitting position when he sees it’s ten-forty-one am, wondering why AJ didn’t wake him.

Oh. That’s why. The kid is still sacked out, looking all of six years old with his knees pulled up around his pillow and the covers under his chin. The clock radio is muttering on the headboard with the alarm light blinking. Good thing they didn’t need that wake up call.

AJ doesn’t even stir as Rick flips the button and stifles the announcer. Shower, coffee, clean clothes. Then wake AJ. Marlowe woofs very quietly as his master comes within an inch of tripping over his discarded boots and going headlong. “Thanks.” Rick whispers, “Marlowe goes outside, shower, coffee, clean clothes.”

He’s to number four, well halfway at least, drinking coffee and grinding his way through law enforcement verbiage, when AJ comes trudging down the stairs, grunting something on his way to the coffeepot.

“Good morning to you too. You see this?” Rick holds out his cup and waits for AJ to top him up.

Which AJ does, hoping that his telepathic thank you for the setting out of his cup and his spoon and his turbinado sugar cubes gets through to his brother. China blue eyes finally open all the way on the fourth long, satisfying sip of deep wonderful caffeine. “See what? Oh…the medallion? Yes, I saw that. I didn’t really connect on the meaning.”

“La Virgen de Guadalupe. She protects mothers and children.”

“Interesting that that was the only thing that Mateo could say with certainty was missing. It wouldn’t be something that anyone would kill her for, would it?”

“Doubtful. Most likely not precious to anyone but her. Says here that he stated that Antonia always wore it around her neck. But it wasn’t there when she was strangled, because according to the autopsy there were only fingermarks, no sign of any ligature.”

AJ turns, drops in another dark brown sugar cube, and refills his own cup. “Broken in the struggle? Trampled underfoot or something?”

“Forensics should have turned it up.”

“So someone took it.”

“Well whoever killed her took it. A trophy?”

AJ shrugs, a frown creasing his brow. “Maybe. Proof? Like returning with your enemy’s sword?”

“Talk about Agatha Christie. She was a seventeen year old girl with a baby on her hip, AJ, not a mafia hit-man.”

“Do we really know what she was?” Now Rick is frowning and AJ holds up a hand. “Hear me out. I was thinking about this last night actually. Maybe we’re missing a beat by not looking a little more closely at our victim. We’re taking her at face value, is all I’m saying, and we shouldn’t be.”

“So?”

“So. The police report has an address in Lincoln Park for her parents. Why don’t you call Carlos and do a little legwork before Katie arrives, see if you can at least turn them up.”

Rick folds his arms and stares. “Why don’t you and I go to Lincoln Park?”

“Because I need to take a shower. And I have no desire to be run out of another Hispanic neighborhood of our fair city on a rail. Besides, I thought I’d cook today. I know we could use a relaxing evening, and I’m sure Katie could too. How does beef stroganoff sound?”

Rick’s already shrugging into his clean shirt and buttoning up. “Delicious. What’s that thing you make for Liz? With the orange liqueur and the fire?”

“Crepes Suzette?”

“Let’s have some of that too.”


	15. Chapter 15

Dark is just coming down when AJ pulls the Camaro into the drive, noting that the Power Wagon and a little red BMW that must belong to Katie are parked on the street. Good. They’re both here.

It’s only when he’s gotten his groceries out and is heading for the door that it hits him that maybe it’s not so good that they’re here. Alone. Together. Rick’s not known for his ability to resist temptation.

The creaking door is the loudest sound in earshot as he opens it slowly, craning his neck to peer over the kitchen counter to the sofa in the family room. “There’s a girl on your shoulder, Rick.”

AJ doesn’t comment on the warm, self-satisfied smile on his brother’s face as he responds, “Mmhm. Chris Berman did it.”

AJ sets his two crackling grocery bags on the immaculate countertop. “What?”

“We were watching the Broncos destroy the Niners and she was on go. But then the game ended and we switched over to ESPN before the late game comes on, and…out she went. Like snapping the light off. She said she slept better last night, but I guess she’s still kinda worn out.”

“Clearly. And your shoulder just happened to get between her and the couch, hmm?”

“Can I help it if I’m more comfortable than your sofa pillows?”

AJ grins at the back of his brother’s head. The man’s got it bad, and it’s entertaining as hell. “Did she bring her notes?”

“They’re on the table with the rest of it.”

“Did you and Carlos find Antonia’s family?”

“Sort of.”

“Well did the two of you go over anything?”

“Katie and me? Nope, we did not. Waiting for you.”

“And watching the football game.” AJ gathers the sheaf of new pages from the stack and steps around to sit on the other end of the sofa. “And eating my cheese and crackers.”

“It got to be beef jerky time and you weren’t back yet, so I had to come up with something.”

Both men go still as Katie stirs, rubbing her cheek against the hard plane of Rick’s chest through his shirt and drifting a hand up to rest on his opposite shoulder. The movement seems to wake her up just enough to realize that her pillow is breathing, and she jumps, lifting her head to look Rick in the eye. “Sorry. I…”

The softly sleepy hazel eyes are right up there with bright intelligent hazel eyes, and Rick smiles at her. “No harm, no foul. You didn’t drool or chase rabbits or anything.”

Her cheeks are pink, but it doesn’t seem to be just from embarrassment, and Rick hopes that it’s because their two hours cuddled on the couch together was as nice for her as it was for him. Because it was nice, once he’d switched over to “To Have and Have Not” on the Sunday movie, feet up, beer in hand, the warm weight of her sleeping form nestled against his side.

“Well…” AJ breaks the moment. “If everyone wants to get up and help me with dinner, once it’s on the stove we can sit down and try to put all the pieces together.”

“I’m all for that.” Katie breathes, straightening up and reaching long arms up over her head, stretching out the kinks.

“How about you, Rick?” AJ turns and catches his brother staring at their client with the same inconsolable yearning that Marlowe has for Mr. Terwilliger’s prize winning Irish Setter, Máiréad, and he aims a kick at Rick’s ankle.

“What?! Oh. Yeah. Dinner. You like beef stroganoff, Slim?”


	16. Chapter 16

The plates are stacked on the one bare spot on the table, and Marlowe is licking out the saucepan. Katie is perched in the end chair, one foot bent up under her, leaning from AJ, who is taking notes, to Rick, who is picking through the various pages, trying to get them in some kind of linear order. She cried a little when Rick told her about the not even teenaged drug dealers, but told them that she can’t intervene unless she sees something directly or a complaint is made – which Rick can’t do while she’s still a target – so that part of the discussion was tabled. 

Rick then explained that he and Carlos had visited the house where Antonia lived before she married Mateo, but it had been occupied by a group of twenty scared people who’d just crossed the border, watched over by their coyote, who was charging their relatives as each arrived for the pick up. A quick conversation with the guy had convinced them that the Herrera family had been no different, most likely squatting in familiar surroundings until they found someplace to go.

“So are we getting anywhere?” Katie asks quietly, taking a sip of the brandy Rick poured for each of them after the crepes.

AJ marshals his pad and pencil. “Let’s go over it again and see. November 10th, Antonia is strangled and her religious medal goes missing. You get called in and take temporary custody of Mateo – your notes don’t seem to shed any new light on that situation, unfortunately. Mateo the elder is in jail, and you’re there until the afternoon of the 11th when he gets released. The police interview mama, whose name is Erlinda Aguilar Suarez, and she tells them precisely nothing but the bare facts. She got up as usual, sent her kids to school, walked down the block and found her daughter in law dead in her living room.”

“Why?” Rick grumbles softly, finishing his drink in one long draft. 

Katie lists and bumps his shoulder gently with hers. “Why what?”

“Why didn’t she tell the cops about La Virgen? Antonia wore it all the time. Mateo had to tell them it was gone.”

“Shock?” Katie whispers. “I was shocked and the poor girl was already covered up.”

Rick rubs her bare arm gently. No matter how many wounded she saw, this must have been Katie’s first experience with a corpse, and that’s never easy. For anyone. “Does she seem like the type to shock easily?”

“Could the drugs have been involved? Maybe someone got the wrong house…and…” AJ stops, frustrated. 

“I still just can’t see how it could happen.” Katie is leaning, elbows on the table, her forehead resting on her folded hands. “All Mateo can ever say about her was how sweet she was, what a kind person, what a good mother. The first couple of visits, all he did was talk about her.”

“I hear you.” Rick agrees. “He talked about her a lot last night when we were sitting on his steps watching the barrio roll by. He misses her a ton.”

“Did you get to meet the little guy?” Katie asks, looking up with a smile.

“I did. He brought me his plastic truck and a sock monkey. We’re compadres now.”

“Good for you. They’re doing wonderfully together for what they’ve been through, aren’t they?”

“Yes they are. Kid loves his dad. Grandma couldn’t make a dent when she came to put him to bed. What’s next, AJ?”

Dropping the pad to the table, the blonde brother rubs his eyes and sighs. “The next thing on the timeline is when you ran out of gas in January, Katie. Again, your notes don’t tell me anything. Why don’t you read them over? Maybe something will come to you.” 

Rick is searching through the stack, pulling out four closely typed pages and smoothing them out on the table in front of her.

Elbows planted, she starts reading the minutiae of her questions and Mateo’s answers, suggestions she made, recommendations, her expectations for their next visit. “And then his mother showed up, wanting to take the baby down to her house to play with her kids. And I told her he had to stay with us until we finished the appointment. I remember this…she got all kinds of bitchy at me…Mateo apologized for her. He said…he said…”

Seeing the look on her face, AJ starts to speak, and jumps as Rick’s crumpled napkin, sticky with Cointreau from dessert, hits him square in the face. Rick slashes a hand across his own throat and shakes his head warningly.

“…he said they were all angry since Antonia was killed. His same thing, she was so good…and that nasty woman said, _tan bueno que ella se ahogó.”_

AJ’s gaze is so riveted on her face that it startles him when Rick translates, “so good she choked on it.”

“oh my.” Katie breathes, gulping, hands clutching convulsively at the edges of the table, eyes brimming with unshed tears. “oh my. she did it, didn’t she? oh no. oh no. she strangled that poor girl. she went there and she killed her. the baby…the baby must have been right there…oh…oh no.”


	17. Chapter 17

“You have to stop thinking about it.” Rick brushes a lock of dark hair back off Katie’s pale cheek. She folded in on herself after she managed to control the crying, and now she’s a ball of misery, huddled in her chair. AJ brought her a glass of water and offered her another brandy, but she hasn’t responded to either of those, or to either of them for that matter.

“Katie…” AJ tries again, offering her his handkerchief. “Is there anything I can get you honey? Rick’s right, you won’t be able to function if you…”

“We have to…stop her…” Her voice is low and rough with tears, but neither of them have any trouble hearing the fury in it. “We have to catch her…because what if that sweet little boy got in her way? What if she decided he…” The thought on the tip of her tongue is the most terrible possibility she can imagine, and Rick reaches for her hand, offering her the strength to get it out. Their fingers twine, and that seems to break the logjam. “…he was…the one who should choke on it next?”

“Not gonna happen, Slim.” Rick vows. 

“No, it’s not.” AJ is just as adamant. “Rick and I will go straight to Town tomorrow. We can…”

“No you can’t. I’ve been a witness AJ. I’ve had to go to court. They wouldn’t even arrest her on what I heard her say. I really doubt Mateo would believe me either, she is his mother after all, and he might not even remember. But I can’t just sit here and let her get away with it, and maybe…hurt…that child. I can’t.”

Rick strokes that soft stray curl back again. “Neither can we. We just have to think this through and come up with a plan. But you have to calm down, darlin. You know more about her than either of us, and you need to be thinking straight, okay?” 

Katie nods, looking up at Rick, squeezing his hand, wiping the tears off her cheeks with her fingertips, then with AJ’s hankie when he offers it to her again. There’s a moment when AJ thinks that Rick might take their lovely client in his arms, and if he weren’t here maybe it would happen, but then they both seem to come to their senses at once, and Rick takes his hand back, and Katie blows her nose. So AJ clears his throat, determined to give them a minute to adjust. “I’m going to make some coffee. I think it's going to be a long night.”

**********************************

Dawn finds the brothers at the table, the last of the third pot of coffee steaming in their cups. Katie is lying on the sofa, sound asleep, a pale green afghan with a pattern of fat yellow flowers draped over her.

“You know kid, I think those things regenerate.” 

“Hmmm? What things?”

“The blankets from hell. I swear I’ve seen ones I know I’ve totally destroyed show up on the bottom of your stack.”

“I think they make two or three of everything, just to confuse us. And I know Mom adds to the piles when we’re not home.”

Rick is staring into the dark depths in his cup. “You think we should let her do this?”

“D’you think we can stop her?” AJ gets to his feet as Eddie Phelps from down the street throws the paper over the gate and onto the walk. “And if you didn’t want her to do it, why did you even suggest it to her?”

“Because she has the perfect excuse to get in that house. And once she gets in, all she has to do is find the necklace and get back out again.”

“Assuming of course that mama doesn’t carry it on her, and that she didn’t just get rid of it.” Stopping at the fridge, AJ opens it and peers at the contents. “You want breakfast?”

“Not hungry. And she didn’t. She wouldn’t have taken it if she was just gonna turn around and get rid of it. No. She’s still got it. And once we have it, she’ll come after it.”

Everything on the shelves looks like too much work, and the blond brother wishes for another organic banana muffin just to take the edge off. “Or she’ll go after Katie.”

“And give us another reason to get Town to arrest her. It’s a win-win.”

The muffin hasn’t magically appeared, and somewhere down in his brain AJ can feel his mother flicking his ear and telling him to close the icebox. So he does, leaning on the door to regard his older brother speculatively. “If it’s a win-win, why do you look so cranky?”

Rick won’t look at him, sipping his coffee, murmuring into his cup.

“What?”

“I don’t want her to get hurt, I said.” Rick snaps.

On his way back to his chair, AJ lays a gentle hand on his brother’s shoulder. “You really like her don’t you?”

“Doesn’t matter if I do or not. As someone so carefully pointed out to me, she’s a client.”

“She won’t always be a client. And if I’m any judge at all, the feeling is mutual.”

“You think so?” It’s a quiet, straightforward question, and AJ offers a reassuring smile. Rick’s good at sex; the man can invite a woman he’s known for ten minutes in a dive bar back to his bed without thinking twice, but when feelings get involved he needs guidance. And there is only one person in the world he trusts with his whole heart, so AJ tries very hard to be worthy of that trust.

“I think she looked mighty comfortable on your shoulder.”

“She’s young.”

“Big deal. You’re Peter Pan.”

For a change, Rick recognizes when the blond kid has legitimately gotten the last word, and AJ manages not to gloat at all. “Better go wake the lady up. She’s got to get her game face on.”


	18. Chapter 18

AJ checks his watch with a quick glance, and then focuses on the red BMW parked about two blocks up. Katie should be wrapping up her second appointment of the morning, after which she has a two hour break, in which she’s going to put the plan into action.

The walkie-talkie in the seat next to him breaks static, and then again. Rick’s ready. He’s stationed over by Mateo’s house, ostensibly waiting for the younger man to come home, with a couple of different cover stories, depending on which way things go. He absolutely refused to be anywhere other than sightline to Katie when she goes into that woman’s house. They set up a very simple code and a very simple time frame knowing they wouldn’t be able to speak to one another unless everything went south, and then they’d probably be acting too quickly to talk anyway.

Seeing their client step out of the small slump block house, AJ can’t help but smile as he reaches down and clicks the button three times to let Rick know they’re on the move. Katie had briefed them on all her stops for today, and there are three children in this case, being cared for by an aunt. All three are on the front walk now, proudly showing off their hopscotch abilities, full of smiles and laughter when Katie cheers and claps, running to her for a hug goodbye. Probably not the way most caseworkers get treated, but certainly the way this one does. The kids at the first house she went to had been standing on the porch like lost puppies, and started waving as soon as they saw her pull up.

There’s a minute when she glances down the street toward him, and he see her smile falter just a bit. She’s past hyperaware; now she’s up to hair-trigger, that state that Rick calls _night recon_ when AJ catches him chain smoking on the edge of the canal at 2am. But she’s tough, lifting a hand in a final wave to the kids as she pulls away and heads toward Mateo’s neighborhood, she meant every single word she said last night, there’s not going to be any letting go on this girl’s part. Not until the little guy, as she calls him, is safe.

AJ follows a good half a block behind, guiding Mom’s Buick through the middle of the work-day empty streets, doing his best to be completely inconspicuous this time, hoping that the Camaro is what most of his audience remembers from the other day, and not his face. 

The BMW turns on Reynolds, and Katie drives right by Mateo’s duplex, not even looking at Rick sitting on the steps, to pull up in front of mama Suarez’ house. AJ rolls the Buick slowly down the street, watching Katie gather her notepad and purse, head to the door, and knock, before he gets to the stop sign on the corner. There’s no traffic, so it’s not pissing anyone off for him to sit there, studying the street signs and looking bewildered, while Katie talks to Mateo’s mother, using Rick’s perfect excuse – her reports have been reviewed, and her supervisor is requiring that she inspect the home in which the child spends most of his day. His grandmother’s home. This home.

Katie’s is already a persistent human being, and since mama has seen this happen to her son, she’s got no reason to say no. She also wants to cover her ass, so she has every reason to say yes, but her wariness is such that she has to argue it. AJ bites his lip not to smile as he sees an old Ford pulling up behind him and slowly turns the corner. They ought to keep this girl around, she’s doing an admirable job, listening politely, but pressing forward all the same. Katie wins, as the older woman winds down to silence and steps backward into the doorway, and Katie disappears into the dim interior of the house.

He drives another couple of blocks to the small square of a City Park, which is his agreed upon station. If Rick needs backup there will be two long clicks, otherwise, the same three for on the move, when Katie leaves the house. So now he sits. And waits.

**************

Watching from down the street, Rick forces himself to look away as the door closes behind Katie, reaching into his shirt pocket for a cigarette, lighting it with deliberate ease. When he shakes the match out and tosses it to the sidewalk, Carlos’ eldest son, Carlito, who is a straight A student who has never touched a controlled substance in his life, leaves the parking lot of the cleaners a block and a half down and heads toward the house, hands in pockets, looking like exactly what he is, a nervous kid trying to make a buy.

“Make it sound good, mijo.” Rick murmurs to himself as Carlito knocks on the door. “Just keep the bruja talking as long as you can.”

*************

“Oh, please.” AJ growls under his breath as an SDPD car pulls up behind him and parks. “Can’t you go fight some actual crime?” But instead of the uniform he expects, the tall, lean form of Downtown Brown emerges from the driver’s side, and strolls up to the passenger door, opening it and making himself at home in the seat. “Good afternoon, Town. Lunchtime?”

“No. Drug time. You know that file you came to me for?”

“Antonia Herrera.”

“Someone from the drug task force came looking for it this morning. They’re looking into it because the girl’s husband and father-in-law are into some big time dealing.”

“It’s not the husband. Rick can pretty much vouch for him. It’s certainly his mother and his step-father though. You came down here looking for us on the strength of that?”

“It seemed a little too coincidental for my detective’s instinct. And I told the lieutenant in charge of the case that I’d get him some answers so he didn’t have to come looking for them himself. So what’s going on, AJ? If you don’t tell me, I’m gonna have to drive on in to that address and bust up whatever you and Rick got going.”

“Don’t do that.” 

“Don’t make me.”

“Okay. Short and sweet. Our client is involved in a situation that brought her into contact with these people. She didn’t know they were drug dealers and neither did we until a few nights ago. She’s been the target of a couple of accidents that weren’t accidents, and, well, we think that the mother murdered Antonia.”

“Why?”

“Don’t know. We don’t really care. We’re just trying to keep our client safe.”

“So what’re you doing here this morning? And what’s Rick doing right now? Keeping your client safe?”

“I sure as hell hope so.”

****************

Carlito’s not as good as Katie. He shoots a long, inquiring look at his uncle Rick as he passes him, still lounging on the steps of Mateo’s house. He came away from his first drug buy empty-handed, which is what was supposed to happen. And the mean old lady pushed him down the steps and into the dusty yard and bitched him out good for coming to her door in broad daylight, which is also what was supposed to happen. Which is why he can’t really figure out the angry set to Rick’s jaw, and the glare that is directed straight into his eyes and then down the street, a clear order to move his ass if he ever saw one.

Then he feels the weight of all that attention leave his shoulders and re-focus on the house. Whatever’s going on in there is the important thing now.

Only there doesn’t seem to be anything going on, and Rick takes a deep breath and unclenches his fists. Carlito gave Katie a good fifteen minutes. Either she found it or she didn’t. And she should be finding a way to give him a signal right about now. Right about…now. Right now. A rush of tension leaves his body as he sees the door open down the street, but then adrenaline pours into his blood as he sees the little guy come staggering out, his nose streaming blood, screaming at the top of his lungs.

****************

Town is explaining how the task force has been looking for the high level dealer who is funneling to the smaller dealers in this neighborhood when the walkie-talkie, which AJ set in the cup holder between them, screams into life. “AJ! GET YOUR ASS HERE! NOW!”

The lieutenant’s head bounces off the back of the seat as AJ drops the big car into gear and stomps on the gas pedal. “Was that Rick?” he yells over the scream of tires. “Didn’t sound like Rick.”

“That was Staff Sargent Simon.” AJ snaps back, controlling the skid as he forces the Buick into a turn it isn’t meant to take at this speed. “That was Rick when all his dials red-line. She’s hurt...or…oh god I hope she’s alive.”


	19. Chapter 19

Carlito hears the screaming, and it’s so raw and hysterical that at first he doesn’t even identify it as human. Then he hears Rick’s roar, and turns to see something he’s heard about all his life but never seen. Uncle Rick goes everywhere at an easy pace, and even though his own dad was the one telling the stories, Carlito hadn’t believed it. _You shoulda seen him, mijo. Fifth grade, we’re out in the field at recess. Big old seventh grader at the plate, thinking he just parked one. Your Uncle Rick, he just turn and start moving, and all of a sudden he’s thirty yards away and gaining. Stole that kid’s home run and wasn’t even breathing hard._ There were a lot of those stories, and they must have been true, because the man has covered a block in the time it’s taken Carlito to turn around and get his feet moving.

It’s not something he thinks about, or commands his body to do. But it’s always been there when he reaches for it, and Rick’s damn glad of it as he gets to the spot where the sidewalk meets the yard just in time to catch little Mateo before would have spilled off the curb and gone sprawling in the street. Wiping his hand quickly across the small, tear-stained face, he confirms for himself that the baby, though terrified, just has a nosebleed. “Lito!” he barks, hearing the unmistakable sounds of a fight going on inside. He needs to get there and stop that, but not until he can make sure the little boy this is all about is safe.

When Carlito arrives, he’s winded, hanging over, hands braced on his knees, but he’s able to straighten up and take Mateo, hauling the baby’s T-shirt up to try to slow the bleeding from his nose. “AJ’s on his way. Take him and get out of here.”

They’re interrupted by a crash from the house, and Carlito grunts as Rick spins him around and pushes him into the street. “GO!”

The front room looks like a hurricane went through it when Rick takes a quick look around the door. Furniture is everywhere, most prominently the little guy’s highchair, which clearly hit the wall. The kid must have too, because there’s a small spray of blood staining the cream colored paint, and a series of dime sized drops on the floor. Reaching AJ’s little 32 Beretta from his ankle holster, he angles toward the hallway that leads toward the rear of the house, relying more on instinct than hearing, and takes the corner quick and low.

He curses, loudly, because there’s no target. The two women are so closely locked together he’ll end up shooting them both. Katie’s down, fighting as hard as she can, but still getting the worst of it, the older woman’s hands locked around her slim throat, a knee in her belly. There’s nothing but murder in the woman’s face, evil writ large, and Rick’s first punch to her jaw doesn’t seem to faze her in the least, and it doesn’t make her loosen up on the younger woman’s throat, if anything she tightens her grip like a vicious dog with its kill.

Not much point in trying to break that grip, Katie doesn’t have the time, she’s weakening; he can see it in every line of her body. So he goes high, bringing it as hard as he can, not much concerned about whether he chokes the bitch out or breaks her neck, as long as she lets go. He’s still got her pinned, cutting off her bloodflow in the vise of his right arm, when Town and AJ come barreling in, guns drawn.

“AJ!” he pants. “Is Katie…” And then squirms across the dirty floor to check for himself as Town grabs mama and cuffs her limp arms, as his backup, in the form of a bunch of guys with bulletproof vests and grim faces pour through the doorway.

Unsure what to do, because he can’t imagine how he’s even going to find her pulse in the bruised puffiness of her neck, AJ settles for grabbing her wrist with one hand and slapping her pale cheek with the other, hoping for some sign of life. Rick’s not so squeamish, tearing Katie’s white blouse open and pressing his palm to her chest. The look of vast, unfathomable relief on his face is heart-rending. “She’s there. We’ve just gotta keep her breathing from depressing. Town! TOWN! Paramedics?”

“On their way.” the tall detective affirms, bending to take a quick look. “What else can we do?”

“Ice.” Rick raps out. “A wet towel and some ice. Fast.”

The items travel hand to hand across the house, and everyone watches as Rick holds the towel and AJ dumps the ice into it, leaning back as Rick twists it fast and settles it gently on Katie’s throat. 

There’s no reaction, not even a flicker, and only AJ hears Rick’s pained growl, watching as his brother picks up a slender arm, taking Katie’s hand in his, twining their fingers. “Open your eyes, Katie. I know you’re in there. There’s no quit in you, Slim, so c’mon back. Just open your eyes.”

AJ knows Rick’s still talking, but after a minute there can’t be any way she’s hearing him, because the ambulance is arriving, sirens blaring. 

When the two young firemen get their stuff through the crowd, AJ turns back to get Rick to give her over to their care, but he’s ignored. Completely ignored. Because Katie’s eyes, filled as they are with tears of pain, are open, and she’s clinging to Rick’s hand. 

For a long minute, he can't tell what she's trying to say, but Rick has it immediately, gently rubbing her hand between his. "The little guy's fine, darlin. He's just fine."


	20. Chapter 20

_The woman charges at them, sweeping the baby out of his highchair with a backhanded slap, the force knocking both child and furniture against the wall. Her own fury shocks her, and she dives for the little guy, throwing the hardest punch that her grandpa ever taught her, an overhand right that sprawls the older woman to the floor. She doesn’t stay down, but it gives Katie time to gather a howling Mateo up and trundle him to the door, slamming it open and sending him toddling through. When she turns back to deal with the threat, mama is reaching for her in slow motion, hands hooked into claws, grabbing at her neck, closing hard hands around it. Choking…choking…_

Katie swims up out of the dream with a full body shudder, clutching at the soft blanket that’s covering her, her bruised throat keeping the scream locked in, only a soft whimper betraying her fear.

It wakes him anyway, and Rick starts up in the other bed, the book that he fell asleep reading falling from his belly to the floor. “Okay, Slim?” he asks softly, reaching to rub her shoulder gently.

Throat on fire, she nods, trying to keep the tears at bay. It’s a losing proposition, and Rick rolls out and across to his old desk in the dimly lit corner, returning to sit on the edge of his rumpled bed with a brown prescription bottle that looks like cough syrup and the box of tissues, which he holds out to her.

She takes one, then two, then gives up and takes the whole box, sitting up herself to pull out a handful to blow her nose and mop up her face. Blotting at the tear spots on her arm, she realizes that she’s wearing a shirt she’s never seen before and past that, she’s in a bed she doesn’t recognize in a room that’s not hers.

It all must show in her face, because when she looks up at him, Rick says, “you don’t remember anything do you?”

_Not since the hospital,_ she tries to say, looking at him in concern when nothing comes out, lifting a hand to her throat.

“Don’t worry, it’ll come back. The doc at the hospital said you shouldn’t even try to talk for three or four days. Do you remember him?”

Yes, she remembers him. Short and Asian and very kind, and she nods at Rick.

“Good. Remember how you fought when he wanted to keep you overnight?”

Blushing, she nods again.

“Remember that once he knew he’d lost the battle he gave you a shot?”

That’s a little cloudy, but when she thinks back, she remembers him saying that since she won’t listen to reason and she can’t swallow anything…and then the nurse jabbed her. _Yes_ , she mouths.

“Well that put you down for the count. We couldn’t leave you alone, so AJ and I brought you here. It’s our mom’s house.”

Whirling a finger at her temple, which is damned near a universal sign, she brings a smile to his face. “Oh, yeah. You were pretty well out of it. I had to carry you up here. Mom put you in my shirt there; none of her stuff would fit you.” 

Rick decides not to tell her that he then spent the next hour capturing her and putting her back in bed, as she made more half-assed escape attempts than a drunk from the county tank. He hadn’t been able to reason with her, or even ask her what the hell she thought she was doing, so he just ended up reading the same page over and over again between her forays to the door. He’d only realized she’d finally fallen asleep when he got to the end of the chapter.

“You’ve slept since then.” Soft fingers close around his wrist and she lifts his arm to get a look at his watch. “It was about seven-thirty you went to sleep.” 

It’s now 3:20 am, and Katie blows out a long sigh, then grabs his hand as a thought hits her, waiting until he looks up and mouthing, _the little guy?_

“He’s fine. They took him to the same hospital. Also treated and released. Mateo picked him up.”

Just moving the muscles in her abused throat is starting to cause her some pretty serious pain, so she tries another gesture.

“Did I talk to him? Yeah, a little. He was pretty shell-shocked. Wants to talk to you when you’re ready.”

Tears sting her eyes and she nods, pushing the thought away, focusing on the warmth of his skin and the wide span of his palm against hers.

“I called your grandpa too. I told him the whole story while you were with the doctor. I promised him I would bring you to him when you had your shit together, okay?”

_Thank you_ she mouths, squeezing his hand, starting to cough as her throat reacts to her emotional distress.

She hears the clunk as Rick sets the medicine bottle down, and feels him reaching for something else, then the cool nudge of glass against her hand. “Here. Take a sip.”

She tries, but the thought of all that cool going down her burning throat is so wonderful that it’s more like a swallow. Her offended muscles balk, and water goes everywhere.

“A sip, I said.” Rick teases, taking the glass. “One sip.” Then he’s got a Kleenex and he’s blotting water off her face and he’s so careful and sweet that she bursts into tears and starts coughing again, panicking a little when she can’t seem to stop.

The bed dips as he sits beside her and begins to rub her back, warm and slow. “Breathe. Don’t think about anything else. Just think about air going in and air going out.” Fumbling for a tissue to wipe her streaming eyes, she feels him take her hand and hold it, gently but firmly. “Let it go. You’re already all wet.”

A horrible sob rips through her, his kindness and her pain and terror causing a clash of epic proportions, and she fights it back, trying to keep the storm inside. “Maybe you should just cry.” is murmured softly in her ear. “You’ve been through hell, and there’s no use pretending you’re not hurt, sweetheart.”

Rick’s shoulder is so warm, and he smells so good, and he’s exactly as safe and comfortable as she remembers from AJ’s sofa, that even though she’s still determined not to, Katie loses it, sobs wracking her as she gives in and clings to him.

For his part, Rick just holds her close while she finally lets it out, feeling her slender body thrum with emotion, which he makes an effort to tame with reassuring touches. She cries in his arms for a good long time, but eventually the tears taper into sniffles and he uses the Kleenex again, tenderly removing the wetness from her cheeks. “Feel better?”

Beautiful hazel eyes, framed by dark tear-wet lashes, turn up to him, and, after a moment’s quiet thought, she nods, pressing farther into his arms to hug him tightly.

It’s a nice hug, and Rick tells himself to forget that Katie is young and shapely and warm and not wearing anything but his shirt and her panties. Not to mention that if he made a move right now, she’d probably respond in a most positive way. But that would be wrong. Whatever his cock might tell him, he needs to keep his brain in control. He does not take advantage of girls in distress. And besides that, he likes this particular girl far too much to endanger what might come later for a quick one now.

So he sets her back into her own space, pleased beyond words at the way she clings tighter for a second before she lets go, and hands her the Kleenex. “Blow your nose, Slim. Then have a sip of water…” He hears her snort a little at that, and he smiles at her. “Then you need to take a dose of your liquid happiness there and lie back down. You’re supposed to rest for twenty-four hours.”

She shrugs, sipping at the cool liquid in her cup. “You rest like you’re supposed to and I’ll drive you to Chula Vista when you get up. Deal?”

Watching him as he reads the instructions on the brown bottle, she reaches and touches the muscled line of his forearm until he looks over at her, then nods.

“Good.” The cap comes off and they exchange a worried glance at the waft of scent that follows. “I hope it tastes better than it smells, kiddo. I wouldn’t have thought there’d be much call for cherry flavored opiates. If that’s what that’s supposed to be.” Rick fills the spoon. “Lovely. It’s red too. The better to scare the shit out of you if you have to throw up later.”

Katie giggles for a good minute at that, and every time she tries to get it under control so she can take the dose, she gets a look at his smile and starts in again.

Rick just watches until she quiets, full spoon in one hand and bottle in the other, glad that she can laugh about something after all she’s had to handle. “You done?”

Fingers pressed to her lips to keep the smile down, Katie nods soberly then takes a deep breath and opens her mouth. Rick feeds her the spoon before she can back out and she swallows the horrid stuff as quickly as possible, her unhappy noise at the taste making Rick grin at her evilly. “Don’t move. You got one more coming.”

The second spoonful is worse because she knows how nasty it’s going to be and she gags a little on it. “Put your chin down toward your chest and swallow quick.” Rick advises, picking up the water glass. “It’ll go down. Then chase it with a couple of shots of water. Whatever you do, don’t let it get to the roof of your mouth or you’ll be tasting it for hours.”

Katie does as he advises and clears the sticky feel and the unpleasant taste in pretty short order, giving him a tired smile.

“You remember that too, don’t you? Nurses with their trays and cups and spoons and needles. Starting to hit you yet, Sailor?”

It is actually. She can see her vision blurring and she nods, feeling the pain drain down to a distant murmur. 

Getting to his feet, he reaches her discarded blanket off the floor. “Now lie down and get some rest.”

Pulling the soft cover up around her, Katie bends to rescue his book, which is lying flat on its pages. It’s ‘The Pioneers’, not Cooper’s best known Leatherstocking tale, but a good one, bound in dark leather and worn from years of happy reading. She holds it out to him with a smile, the question in her dark eyes.

“My Uncle Ray handed down the whole set when I turned eleven. He and Dad had already about read the covers off them when they were kids, but I loved every one of them. Til AJ got old enough to read them and started trying to tell me about symbolism and romanticism and whatever the hell. I know a good story when I read one, and that’s all I need to know.” He can’t really decipher the look in her eyes now, but she points to his bed and then to the book, then nestles into her pillow and gives him the ‘hurry up’ wave.

It takes a good long minute, accompanied by a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head for him to get it. “You want me to read to you?”

An emphatic nod.

“Why?”

Even if she could talk, Katie knows she wouldn’t tell him how wonderfully protected he makes her feel, how reassuring she finds his presence and the sound of his voice, how attracted to him she is. So she just mimes a peaceful sleeping pose and waves at him again.

“You want me to put you to sleep, huh? At least you didn’t ask me to sing. And I won’t.” he growls. “So don’t even consider asking me.”

That damnable giggle comes out of her again as he gets settled, finds his page and starts back into Natty Bumppo’s final journey into the woods.


	21. Chapter 21

Katie wakes to a different brother sitting on the opposite bed with the book in hand. AJ sees that she’s awake and smiles at her. “Good morning. Rick went to get cleaned up.” Waving Cooper at her, he says, “I don’t know why he likes this one so much. It’s always been his favorite. Mom’s making breakfast by the way; she’s going to bring you a tray.”

Katie holds up a hand and sits up cross legged in the narrow bed, mouthing _I can get up._

“No reason to. Once Rick’s out of the shower, we’re going to your apartment and getting you some clothes. Then when you’re ready, Rick will take you to see your grandfather. After that it’s up to you. Mom would be perfectly happy to have you stay with her for a few days, if you like. Or you can go home. Town wants to be informed the minute you can talk again, though. We have a pretty good idea of what went on, but your statement should clear everything up.”

_Has anyone seen Nando?_ she mouths, hands clenched in the blanket.

“They have it on good authority that he jumped the border last night and is in Mexico…”

She looks up at him and the blonde shrugs. “They’ll put out a want on him and maybe someday he’ll get turned in. There isn’t much more they can do. She confessed, sweetie. Took the blame for everything. Antonia’s murder, attacking you, the drug operation, everything. Don’t worry about him anyway. We’ll keep an eye on you for a while, and if he’s got any sense at all he’ll stay in Mexico.” AJ doesn’t go into further detail; she has no need to know the specifics of what he and Rick will do to Nando if he shows up. “It’s going to be fine. Promise.”

While she’s not so sure about the ‘fine’ part, Katie does know that they will do exactly what they promise, and she nods at him.

“How do you like my bed?”

She points at his chest and then at the bed she’s sitting in.

“Yup. Mom put me in between him and the door when he hit puberty. Didn’t work though. He just started going out the window. At least I think this one’s mine. I moved stuff around when he left. Here…” AJ says, standing up and moving the bed Rick slept in out away from the wall and craning his neck to see while he runs his fingers along the underside of the headboard. “Yeah, this is his.” He straightens up and moves aside, and she slips out from under the covers and comes over, tossing the pillow over so she can sit down and take a look for herself. His name is carved there, in letters big enough that he must’ve been very small when he did it.

“I’m told he was a little resentful when I was born. Mom started finding his name on everything. It was also when he began to actually put his clothes and toys away. So I wouldn’t take them.”

Katie sits back up and makes a heart with her two hands, then points at AJ.

A new voice from behind says, “The pouty thing only lasted until AJ was about ten weeks old. As soon as he could roll over and start trying to keep up, they became the best of friends.”

AJ smiles fondly. “Katie, meet our mother, Cecelia. Mom, Katie.”

The older woman comes over and sets her breakfast tray down on the table, taking Katie’s hand and patting it between hers. “How are you feeling, dear?”

Katie replies with a closed thumb and finger circle, mouthing, _thank you for everything._

“Oh, you're more than welcome. I brought you some oatmeal and a glass of milk. Rick told me the doctor said you weren’t to have anything that would strain your throat.”

“She’s not.” Rick is standing in the doorway, dressed, Katie cannot help but notice, in nothing but a pair of those tight, faded Riders, with a damp towel over his shoulder. “Did you throw her out of your bed, kid?”

“No. I was just illuminating our childhood.”

“How much illuminating does it require?” Rick winks at her behind AJ’s back. “You were a drooling, crying, saggy-diapered pain in the butt.”

Katie bites her lip hard, but doesn’t succeed in keeping the giggle in. 

She can only laugh harder when Cecelia puts in, “…whose first word after ‘mama’ was?” She nods serenely when Katie points to the big brother. “AJ got his Rs at two and a half because Rick wouldn’t answer him anymore.”

“Try spending your prime boyhood years being called ‘wicky’.” Rick growls, grabbing his clean shirt off the closet door. “I took so much teasing because of him.”

“You survived.” Cecelia responds, fixing his collar as he buttons up. “Just like he survived all the teachers who said ‘oh lord, you’re _Rick’s_ little brother?’”

Katie giggles again and Rick shoots her a mock-glare. “Stop laughing and start writing, Slim. We’re gonna pick up enough of your stuff for a week.”

_A week?_ she mouths. _Why?_

“Because only the cops are saying Nando swam south. I called Carlos just now, and he says that’s more of a wish and a prayer than a fact. So, you’re staying here with Mom where we can protect you til we can find him and deal with him. Okay?”

Katie gives him her OK with a trembling hand, staring into his eyes.

“Don’t worry darlin. You’ll be safe with me…us…mom.” His cheekbones are coloring as he stammers, and he grabs his boots from the carpet at the end of the bed and heads for the door. “I need coffee.”


	22. Chapter 22

“Did Carlos have any idea where we might look for Nando?” They’re in Rick’s truck, heading for Katie’s apartment building, Rick driving, AJ in charge of their client’s handwritten list and her keys.

“No. Carlos seemed to feel that since his whole empire has gone to shit, the guy’s probably going to be looking for someone to take it out on. Pretty hard to wipe out a whole drug task force, so, while we might have saved Slim from one crazy bitch, there’s another one on the horizon.”

“Are we going to try to plan? Or is the plan just to let him come at her and then respond?”

“If I knew where he was, we could finish this right now. Make Town’s day. But I don’t. Carlos looked under all the asshole’s favorite rocks, and he wasn’t anywhere. But since she’s the only thing we can be pretty sure he wants, I don’t see a whole lot of options. You?”

“No. Not really. The hard part will be what we do if he doesn’t come after her.”

“Well.” Rick pulls over into the center lane and stops to take the left turn into the complex’s parking lot. “At some point she’ll have to go back to her life, and we’ll have to let her. But from what you told me, it seems like there might be more people on her side than his, now that his grip’s broken.”

AJ nods. He’d stayed behind while Rick went with Katie to the hospital, so he’d seen the way the neighborhood had suddenly become willing to talk. “I think if Town can get them working with him, they could turn that whole area around. No more baby drug dealers.”

Rick nods, pulling into a shady space at the end of the lot. “They turn those kids over to Mateo yet?”

“Probably not. Town said there’d have to be a hearing. That young man needs to show he wasn’t part of the empire.” AJ checks the list. “Apartment 214.”

Rick points left and up. “Over there. Will you call Town when we get back and find out if there’s a hearing and when? I need to be there.”

“Of course. Between the two of you, you and Katie could probably convince a judge to let Mateo keep them all together. As long as you’re sure of him.” Slamming the truck door, AJ leads the way to the stairs and up to the door. The keys fit in the two separate locks just like Katie said they would, and the door, while creaky, opens solidly enough.

“He knew about the drugs, like I damn sure knew he did. But he was just as scared as the rest of them, with the little guy in play. The kid deserves a chance to get his act together; keep his family together.” 

Their years of experience kick in without thought or discussion, and they take Katie’s apartment just like they would any unfamiliar environment, AJ going left from the small entryway and Rick going right. They meet at the bathroom door as Rick is coming out.

“This place is tiny.” AJ observes. 

“She’s all she’s got. Not much use in paying for room you don’t need.”

“I guess.”

“Where’s the suitcase?”

AJ, whose attention has been caught by the framed photograph on Katie’s wall, shakes out his list. “Umm, under the bed.”

Rick goes to one knee and flips up the end of the dark green comforter. He hauls out an old leather valise, mahogany brown and scuffed, and sets it on its brass feet. The flash of white as he brushes the blanket back down intrigues him; and he pulls the covers up and turns it over. The other side is a life-size Donald Duck, full of beans and shaking his tail feathers. 

Bemused, he checks the small set of shelves by her bed, and finds another Donald, this one a china figurine with the duck in meltdown mode, and he wonders if she picked them out herself, or whether these were gifts, because there is a certain familiarity there. He’s pretty sure he saw that same ‘I-want’ line in her forehead on the side of the Five.

Knowing he shouldn’t do it and doing it anyway, he twitches her pillow aside and unearths the T-shirt she clearly uses as a nightgown. Donald again, arms folded, foot tapping. Too bad it’s a man’s shirt. What if she got that, got all of this stuff, from some guy?

“Hey?” AJ flaps his sheet of paper. “Rick?”

“What?”

“Has Katie said anything to you about her mother?”

“Nope. Why?”

“Come take a look.”

The long frame holds a series of family pictures. In the first, Katie is a baby in her mother’s arms, her father beside, in uniform, with a huge smile on his face. They go along, year by year, and Rick looks over at his brother as he gets to the middle of the line. This picture is a tween-age Katie, all alone, her chin up, braving the camera. “Damn. She lost them both in the space of a year.”

“No wonder she’s so close to her grandfather.” AJ points at the next picture in line. “Take a look at that one. That’s a lot of love, right there.”

It is. The old man was a younger man, and he has both arms wrapped around his granddaughter, holding tight, her dark head tucked under his chin. “Yeah.”

There are a few more frames on the wall. Katie’s High School graduation. A much newer little red car with her at the wheel, smiling proudly. “AJ?”

“What?”

“Who the hell is that guy?”

AJ bends a bit to take a look at the picture of Katie and a good looking young man wearing a graduation gown, a UCLA Baseball T-shirt, and his Bruins cap, and then straightens up with a teasing smile on his handsome face. “That guy…is ‘Love always, Pat’. Looks like she’s wearing his class ring.”

“Great.” Turning on his heel, the older brother heads back and tips the suitcase on its side, snapping the catches open.

AJ is right behind him. “Come on, Rick. You certainly don’t see any evidence of a man in this place. Besides, I doubt he ever read to her.”

Rick snaps a look at his brother. “You heard that? What were you doing roaming around? Bed check?”

“Call of nature, if you must know. Top drawer is underwear.”

“What?!”

Paper rattles. “The list. Top drawer. Underwear.”

“We should’ve brought Mom.” The drawer grates a little, and opens to reveal an array of unmentionables, all neutrals and pastels, nothing racy or lacy. 

“It just proves she trusts you.” AJ has gone to the small closet and is retrieving a pair of penny loafers.

Rick tries not to think about the soft cotton in his hands being on the even softer Katie as he deposits a pile in the suitcase. “Trusts me? How could she know it wouldn’t be you putting your hands on her underwear?”

AJ snorts laughter at that, and takes pity on his older brother’s blank look. “She gave me the list so you’d be the one looking in her drawers. So to speak.” The look doesn’t brighten much. “You’re hopeless. Why did you read to her last night?”

“She asked me to.”

“Come on.”

Rick grabs the list and hauls open the next drawer, pulling out a stack of T-shirts. “You already know I’m…I…she’s very attractive, AJ.”

“I think she figured that out this morning when you started babbling at her.”

“…made a fool of myself…”

“So what? Girls like to know when they’ve got you off balance.”

Bending down, Rick opens the bottom drawer for a couple of pairs of jeans and some shorts, setting them in the case. “It’s crazy. I’ve known her for four days, and I really want something more. Maybe a lot more.”

There’s no answer, and he turns to look behind him. “AJ?”

“In the kitchen. She specifically requested that I water her plants.” There’s a creak, and the shivery chatter of glass. “Well, Rick…”

AJ’s tone is so serious that he gets up and covers the ten feet to the kitchen in two steps. “What?”

“No choices. You’ve got to marry her.”

“I gotta what?”

AJ is standing at the counter, overhead cupboard door open, pointing to the half full bottle of Don Diablo on the shelf. “It’s Kismet.”

“Howard Keel was never lovelier.” he deadpans, but there’s a big sappy smile on his face. “Water the plants. I want to get back.”


	23. Chapter 23

By Friday lunch everyone’s had enough. Hernando Suarez is still among the missing and he hasn’t made so much as a feint in Katie’s direction, so the three of them agreed that tomorrow’s the end of the line; it’s time for things to get back to normal. 

Katie’s voice is mostly back, only missing every now and then on the highs and lows. She could make herself understood by Wednesday afternoon, and Rick got everyone together here at the house so she’d only have to go through the whole story once. 

Apparently, though Mateo swears it can’t be so, his mother was absolutely sure that Antonia was trying to replace her. Not only in the drug operation, but also in the heart, and bed, of its operator. There really wasn’t anything elaborate, nothing convoluted. Just pure, straight up jealousy that led to a crime of passion. Katie and the little guy, they just got in the way. 

After pacing away most of Thursday morning outside the judge’s chambers, Mateo got his hearing. Rick and Katie each went through an interview with the kind-hearted, but no-nonsense, family court advocate, and what they told him got the kid his chance to raise his siblings. The court’s only condition was that Katie stay on as their caseworker, which she had been glad to agree to. Seeing those children in new clothes with their eyes full of hope and happiness had appeased Rick’s sense of justice, but he’d also taken Mateo aside and explained that the system would have to wait its turn if Katie ever found anything wrong, because Rick himself would get there first. In a bad mood.

The travel agent that Cecelia has been seeing, and who she’s been putting off all week, finally convinced her that she could take an evening out and eat some lovely French food at a great little place he knows in La Jolla. She told them all not to wait up.

AJ left around five. He _said_ that he was going to have French food, but his real plan involved only Liz and her bed. The only thing remotely French would be the kisses and the wine.

Katie had said an absolute no to any more pizza, so Rick picked up the phone and called Danny Tran, and they’d been buried in spring rolls and four kinds of pho inside of twenty minutes. Katie’d been quiet, not eating much, and not wanting to talk much either. Once the leftovers were stowed and the dishes they’d used were in the sink, she’d disappeared upstairs again with a basket of clean laundry, and he hadn’t bothered her. If there’s one thing he’s learned about Katie in this week, it’s that she can’t be forced to be social, she has to want your company, and if she does, she’ll come looking for it. It’s kind of like learning to live with a cat.

Settling himself in front of the TV with a cold Tecate and the remote, he flicks the set on and runs the channels, looking for something that’ll distract him. Distraction itself appears when Katie shows up in cutoffs and a UCLA T-shirt with ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ from their set of Cooper, thumb holding the page. “Is there more?” she asks, pointing to his bottle.

“Plenty. Look behind the juice on the bottom shelf. Mom’ll let it stay in there, but it’s always a second class citizen.”

When she comes back, she’s a got one for her and another one for him.

“Thanks. You finish packing?”

“Welcome. And I started packing, I guess. I hung your shirt back in the closet, by the way.” She takes the space next to him on the couch with easy familiarity, setting her bottle on the coaster and opening her book.

Rick watches her get comfortable for a long moment. He and AJ have done a ton of running around this week, they all have, and this is the first time they’ve really been alone together since that first night. “I was gonna watch TV.”

“Go ahead. Won’t bother me a bit.” Long, shapely legs stretch, and slender bare feet steal a corner of his ottoman as she settles in and focuses on the book.

“okay.” he mutters, turning up the volume and tossing the remote to the side table as the opening credits begin to roll on Bogie and Mary Astor and the obsidian bird.

He’s finished both his beers and Bogie’s getting punched around when he sees Katie set her book aside and start paying attention. When Elisha Cook gets murdered she cuddles up against his side, whispering “…but he killed them…so who’s…”.

Shushing her theatrically, he slides his arm around her and invites her closer. “Less talking, more watching.”

He feels her growl with satisfaction when Bogie gets to punch back and hears her soft sigh at the final scene. “That man did have style, didn’t he?”

“It was the hats.” he jokes softly, enjoying the answering giggle.

“You would absolutely kill a fedora. Want another beer?”

“Nah. I’d take a glass of tea though.” He can’t help but admire the length of her legs again as she boosts off the couch and gathers up the bottles to head to the kitchen. Drawn by the view, which is somehow even better in the shorts than it was in just the panties, he gets up and follows. “I actually have one of dad’s hats. It just doesn’t fit me quite right. It kinda bothers me too.”

“Having it?” she asks, pouring tea. “Or wearing it?”

“Trying to wear it just…felt wrong.”

“Like stealing.”

As she sets his glass in front of him, he taps her nose gently. “Just like that.”

Katie nods, a wistful smile on her face. “Daddy gave my mom a lovely diamond necklace when I was born. After she died, Grandpa gave it to me and every time I tried to put it on I felt sick.”

“What’d you do with it?”

“Put it in the safe deposit box with his medals and his flag. Those always upset the hell out of me anyway. But she liked to have them around.”

“You look like her.”

Katie, who had been staring into her glass, looks up at him sadly. “I know. I got the eyes, and his black Irish coloring, but other than that…”

“Don’t complain…” Rick draws a finger across the back of her hand, “…she was beautiful.”

“Are you complimenting me, sir?” 

“Yes ma’am, I am.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The words are teasing, but her expression says there’s more on her mind, and he touches her hand again, waiting until she reaches, wrapping his fingers with hers. The suspicion struck him as soon as he saw that lovely woman-in-waiting in the picture, her chin stuck out a mile, like she was telling life to take another swing. “Did she kill herself, Slim?”

“I don’t know! I…” Katie takes a deep calming breath and looks him in the eye. “She said she had a headache and she was going to bed. I was sitting at the table cursing my Algebra homework, and I just said goodnight and she went away. I didn’t go into her room when I went to bed because she said she didn’t feel good. And when I woke up the next morning I was pissed off that she hadn’t gotten me up. I had like ten minutes to make the bus and I got dressed and I stormed into her room like any fourteen year old little brat would, and…she was…still alive…but…she was already gone. I couldn’t wake her up and I panicked and called the police. She died in the hospital that night.”

The grip on his hand has become so strong his knuckles are turning white. “So I don’t know. Maybe she just forgot she took her pills and took some more. Maybe she decided enough was enough. Maybe I ignored her when she said she didn’t feel well.”

“Come on, Slim…” he murmurs, pulling a paper towel off the roll and dabbing at the tears leaking down her face. “You went to college for this stuff. Whatever she did or didn’t do, it came out of her, not you, you know that.”

“Intellectually, yes, I do know that, and I’m usually way better at handling it when it comes up. You’re just…different.” She squeezes his hand again and then lets him go to take a drink of her own tea.

“Different? Like Pat?” 

That surprises a laugh out of her. “You saw Patrick’s picture too, huh? Did you look in my medicine cabinet while you were at it?”

“AJ did while I was in looking through your underwear drawer. No…come on Slim…he was right on the damned wall.” Taking her hand he leads her out of the kitchen and back to the couch, setting his tea down and flipping off all the lights except the one on the side table and settling back into his spot.

Katie pulls her knees up and wraps her arms around them, leaning her shoulder against the cushions. “Pat was a very sweet young man.”

“You were wearing his class ring.”

“I wore his engagement ring for a little while too.”

Rick forces himself to breathe calmly. “Why didn’t you marry him?”

“Mainly because he had this perfect image of me in a little house, in a little apron, waiting patiently while he chased his major league dreams, and welcoming him home without a single frown or grumble.”

“That’s not even close to you.”

“No. But he refused to believe I had no interest in being that. Even when I told him straight out it wasn’t ever going to happen. He was going to have that life, damn it. And now he’s got it. He found a pretty, empty-headed girl who’s breathtakingly content to sit in a Triple A town and wait for him to break in to the bigs. So I gave him his ring back and wished them both luck.”

“Good for you. It’s not easy to have yourself all figured out that early.”

“I didn’t have anything figured out. Not by a long shot. But I was about to graduate, so I started looking for work. CPS was recruiting, and it sounded like something I could do well, so I applied. I got an interview, and while I was in the process, a friend of a friend offered to let me house-sit in Malibu for the summer. I met a guy who wrote a lot of bad scripts and an occasional good one. He was an actual grown-up, which was nice, but he was more interested in having me than he was in understanding me. He loved the fact of his twenty-two year old girlfriend, not the actual girlfriend, you know?”

“Yeah, I’ve been in that kind of trap before.” To her raised eyebrows, he says, “Long story. Tell you later.”

“Okay. I went through the final interview and got the job, so I broke up with him. I moved down here, and after a week or so he noticed I was gone.”

“And…?”

“And that was that.”

“And…?”

“That was that.” she repeats softly. “I don’t date. Most of the males I meet are under eighteen, and the places I have to go, I get a lot of bullshit…you know…like the Mercedes guy.”

“You need to meet a better class of men.”

That dazzling smile comes at him. “I think I finally have. AJ’s a pretty nice guy. Cute too.”

As a verbal poke, that’s not bad, and she’s clearly waiting for his response, so he dismisses it with a laugh. “It would never work.”

“Why not?”

Rick leans close and stares into those lovely hazel eyes. “Because I saw you first.”

They watch each other for a long, long moment, in which Rick can see her cheeks pinkening. “Do you two regularly fight over women?”

Because he can’t keep himself from it any longer, Rick lifts a hand and traces a lock of her long dark hair. “Almost never. There’s girls AJ’s attracted to, and there’s girls I’m attracted to; the two groups don’t usually intersect. And if they do, we deal with it.”

“By _'I saw her first'_?” Soft fingers close around his wrist, and for a moment Rick thinks he’s getting shut down, but Katie tosses her head just enough to get her hair out of the way and brings his palm to the lovely curve of her cheek.

Her skin is as soft as a rose petal, and he can feel her pulse racing under his thumb, the combined sensation making him want to start kissing that sensitive spot just under her ear, and never stop. But they are having some kind of conversation, aren’t they? Still? “Umm, no. Usually by finding out what the lady wants.”

His own pulse ticks upward as Katie’s hand runs up his forearm, gently exploring; lighting up each and every nerve ending in the process. All of which transmit tiny shocks of pleasure to his groin. Thankfully he’s pretty sure this is a girl who’ll take his hard-on as the compliment it is. 

“And once you know that what the lady wants is you?” his lovely young woman murmurs into his hand.

“Have to show you that part.” he growls softly, drawing her in, slow and determined.

Her eyes are sparkling and he gets another little jolt in the libido when her gaze flashes to his lips and then back to meet his. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Their mouths meet in a soft brush; so pleasurable that neither of them can control their reactions, separating for a split second and then meshing again, warm and wet, Katie wrapping her arms around Rick’s neck with a soft moan as he tugs her into his lap and grumbles against her lips until she parts them and lets him in.


	24. Chapter 24

Katie knows she’s making some shamelessly needy noises as Rick teases her tongue with his, but she can’t seem to stop. He feels so good, and he smells so good, and he tastes so good that she aches for the moment when they’ll be one. Because they will be. No doubt in her mind. This man is going to be her lover, and the hard heat of the erection she can feel warming her bottom through their layers of clothes pleases her no end. She’d sort of despaired of ever finding a man who was capable of combining genuine affinity with sexual attraction. The fact that his mustache is as deliciously tickly as she fantasized it would be is nothing but a plus.

He’s a sensational kisser too. Slow and soft and exploring every little nuance of her response, working with it, deepening her pleasure until she wishes he’d just pull her clothes off and kiss every inch of her skin, because she wants to feel like this all over. Rick seems to hear the thought, tipping her chin up, nuzzling at her pulse until she shivers, bypassing the yellowing bruises on her throat to nibble a warm trail across her jawline to that sweet spot under her ear. She yelps, can’t help it at all, quivering against him, her fingers digging into his back muscles, wanting so badly she can only whimper and cling.

His growl is intense, and he bundles her closer, arms tightening around her, palm sliding down the small of her back to squeeze her bottom and shift her directly over his fly. “…so sweet…” is breathed into her ear, “…so beautiful, darlin…”

Katie surges up; responding to the hunger in his voice, catching his square chin with a gentle hand and stroking her fingertip over his warm lips. This time she initiates the kiss, licking slowly at the line of his lips until he opens for her, delving in more deeply with each gentle thrust of her tongue. Did she think he tasted good? He tastes amazing. And the low, warm sounds reverberating through his body as she arouses him are wonderfully flattering as well.

That’s something that she needs to feel more directly, so she eases away, placing small soothing kisses on his mouth, and gets her hands between them, reaching into his shirt to run her palms over his broad chest, ruffling the dark hair. Still not nearly close enough, she presses him back into the corner of the couch and straddles his lean hips, slipping the last three buttons, tugging the tails out while she’s at it, bending in to place gentle, deliberate kisses. His scent is deliciously strong here, so close to his bare skin; and she can feel her own body preparing itself as she tastes the dip of his collarbone, the hollow of his sternum, his right nipple, then his left.

His hands lift and slip into her hair as he groans out his need, his back arching as instinct sends him seeking upward, wanting more. Katie feels the vibration, and presses her open mouth more firmly to his chest, right over his heart, meeting him halfway, the friction between their bodies as natural as breathing. She realizes she’s leaving quite a love-bite about half a second before Rick grabs her bottom with both hands and reverses on her, putting her flat on the cushions under his hard weight with astonishing speed.

It feels better than anything she can ever remember, and then he starts pulling her T- shirt free of her shorts, growling, “…my turn now, Slim…”

Every atom in her body responds when his gorgeous mouth moves across her bare belly, teasing and brushing and driving her straight out of her mind. All she can do is grab on to his shoulders again and moan, making a really embarrassing half squeak, half yowl when he circles her navel with the flat of his tongue. Six inches lower with some of that and she’ll just spontaneously combust. She’s not really sure how either of them are avoiding it now.

Then his mouth finds hers again and he kisses every thought out of her head, leaving her breathless and shivering with need. “Can I take your clothes off my darlin?” he murmurs in her ear, kissing the shell gently, nuzzling tenderly at the hotspot he found. There’s that sweetness again, the proof of his character, his respect for her, not that she needed more proof, but she’s sure she’ll never be able to express how much it means to her that he truly sees her as his equal, not just as relief for his body, or support for his ego.

Grabbing the hem of her shirt in a crossways grip, she lifts, and shucks the bright white cotton with the blue logo off over her head and over onto the ottoman their feet were so recently sharing. The deep sound of his appreciation rumbles through his chest and into her, sinking to her bones, and she lifts just enough as his hand slides beneath her and up her spine to the hooks of her brassiere, slipping them slowly free, one by one, his eyes a bright and avid blue as her undergarment gives up a little more with each passing second.

“So beautiful…” he breathes again, leaning to slide his tongue into her mouth and kiss her senseless. And Katie feels like the most beautiful woman in the world, arching her back, showing off for him, breasts high and firm and full, nipples tight, flushed a gorgeous, arousing red from the sexual haze he has her in. His warm hand moves up again, brushing her bra aside, and he cups a silky globe, savoring the weight and the curve and the softness, trapping her hard nipple between his fingers and tugging firmly.

Katie can’t get rid of the damned bra fast enough, sweeping it up off her arms and out of his way, losing her air again as he lifts the hand that’s still under her and brings her breast to his mouth. Her body takes over without a moment’s notice, moving instinctively when he begins to suck, hands kneading his shoulders, hips tipping, thighs spreading, doing everything in its power to coax Rick to mount, and she huffs in embarrassment, her face on fire, trying to stop throwing herself at him.

“See what happens when you go without for too long?” he whispers against her wet skin, stilling her restless hips with a gentle hand, moving up to kiss her tenderly on the lips. “Your body just elbows you out of the way and says _gimme dat. now._ ”

That is so precisely what’s happening that she blushes harder and blurts, “I don’t usually… I actually never act…I’m…”

“Don’t you even think about saying you’re sorry, Slim. And don’t ever be ashamed with me, okay? You got no idea how flattering you are to a man my age.”

“A man your age…” she scoffs. “Aren’t you the guy who’s forever young?”

“You make me feel that way, Slim.” The kiss they share is deep and warm, and their bodies settle closer, their hearts racing together as female softness meets male hardness.

“Is that how I got Baby’s nickname?” Katie whispers when they break. “Cause she was his sweet young thing? You know, those two were a lot farther apart than we are. Bogie had twenty-five years on his Baby.”

“Twelve’s plenty.” Rick murmurs, shrugging out of his shirt and letting it fall. “And I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time to get naked.”

Katie bursts out laughing, running a hand up his lean ribs. “I’m all for naked.”

“Well, good.” he growls, low and hot, moving slightly onto his side, hand easing between them to the button of her shorts. “Cause you’re about to be.”

Their mouths meet, the contact deepening by degrees as they fall into rhythm together, everything meshing just the way it’s meant to. Katie whimpers softly into Rick’s mouth when he gets button and zipper undone and slides his hand into her panties, covering her softly furred mound completely, warming her skin, driving her crazy with need.

He pulls away for a moment, pushing the straining cloth down her long trim thighs, past her knees, guiding one bare foot out completely. When he speaks, his voice is hoarse with emotion. “You…are the most beautiful woman in the universe.”

A strong worshipping hand slides up her leg, gently pressing her thighs open, even as she’s spreading them herself, quivering for his touch. The noise that escapes her when he sweeps his thumb over her soft open cleft is straight from the female animal inside her, without a stop at civilization, and his inner caveman answers with a dominating kiss; two gentle, dexterous fingers parting soft folds and pressing upward into her slick sheath.

Katie jerks her mouth away from Rick’s, her neck arching, back bowing as she draws a high, shaky breath and climaxes, hard, her body clenching, trying to draw the penetration deeper. She calls his name, loud and needy, and he’s nothing but ready to answer the hunger he can hear in her voice, and feel in every line of her body. 

Unfortunately, AJ picks this exact moment to open the front door.


	25. Chapter 25

The blond brother stops short. He hadn’t really wanted to leave Liz’s bed, but the longer he lay there with her head on his chest, the more his gut told him to get up. And if there’s one thing he learned at Rick’s shoulder, it was to trust those little nudges that your instincts give you.

And it’s certainly not the first time that he’s walked in on Rick and a girl making out on this couch. Though to be fair, it generally happened as he was coming down the stairs for the tenth or eleventh time, doing his damnedest to piss Rick off and maybe extort another dollar or two to stay in their room. The glimpse he gets tells him that this time is a lot more serious than any of those ever were, and is more than enough to tell him that he shouldn’t be seeing anything else. He spins around, swiping the door shut as quickly as he can.

It bangs, loudly, and there’s some startled noise from the entwined couple, some shuffling, and then the thump of quick footsteps across the living room and up the stairs, where another door bangs, loudly.

“I am SO sorry…” he begins softly, “…I should have called…I’m really sorry, Rick. But I did not expect…” he trails off, uncertain. He should have expected, shouldn’t he? He’d gone off to get his ashes hauled, and mom certainly wasn’t still at a French restaurant with the travel agent. Why hadn’t he thought about what the two people left at home might be getting up to? Damn his gut instinct anyway. “I am so sorry…” he starts again.

“AJ. Shut. Up.”

“I…”

Rick is behind him like a shot, voice even and uncompromising. “One more word and I’m gonna deck you. Not even joking.”

There’s another shuffling noise behind him and he winces as the kitchen door slams open and rebounds off the stucco, the din almost covering the string of cursing that Rick gives in to on the way out.

***********

It’s gonna be a good long while before he can wind down from fever pitch, especially when there’s no way in hell he can put his tension where he wants to put it, and he knows that strangling AJ will only make him feel better for a second or so before he regrets it, so Rick pulls his shirt back on and heads toward the citrus trees at the end of the yard. 

The lemon tree was a seedling when they moved in. Not that he remembers that; he was still about a week from making it out into the world, but he knows that dad had promised mom a house to come home from the hospital to, and she fell in love with this yard before she even set foot in the place. 

He doesn’t remember the beginning of the lime either, he knows only that there must have been some fairly personal story behind it because his father teased his mother quite a bit about that tree, but even at thirty-seven years old, he still doesn’t know what happened. He does know that he spent a good many hours of his childhood out here in the sweet scent of blossoms and the sharper scent of fruit, playing with his cars and his toy soldiers, and eventually his little brother. Also occasionally starting a war with Mikey and Phillip Fisk across the street, where lemons, limes, oranges and the occasional grapefruit would fly past pedestrians and startled drivers, and once, in dramatic fashion, took out a substitute mailman who didn’t hit the dirt in time. He hadn’t been able to sit down for dinner that night, and both he and Mikey were grounded for a week. Because, in typical parent logic; they were the older brothers and should have known better.

That makes him think of all the other crap he and Mike got up to, and make himself a mental note to set up a drinking expedition next time the Fisk boys are back in town. 

Feeling his body start to relax and some blood get back to his brain, he steps into the familiar shiny tangle of the mingled branches and leans against the lemon’s trunk, letting his thoughts travel to the truly wonderful young woman he’s found, replaying every single moment of the way their bodies fit so perfectly, the way she surrendered to him, the way she came the instant he touched her. “That way lies madness”, he murmurs under his breath, shaking his head, picturing icebergs and snowcapped mountains instead of the ecstasy on her face. 

Cooler heads have to get back in control, because he’s not going to get another chance with her tonight, not with how speechlessly embarrassed she was when she realized AJ was in the room. Not when she had to bolt upstairs without a stitch on. Which was the best view he’s had yet, by the way, all slender muscles and graceful curves. Girl’s got legs right up to her neck and an ass that won’t quit. “Stop it.” he orders himself. “Ice. Freezing rain. Peter Lorre.”

Only that name makes him think of Bogie, and Bogie of Baby, and how Katie picked right up on the fact that another one of the names that man gave to the young woman that entranced him was Slim, and how well it fits. Every quality that name conjures up, fire and beauty and courage and grace and intelligence, not to mention the legs, is Katie. It fits. She fits. For the first time in his life he’s seriously considering what sharing his life with one woman would be like. And damned if he isn’t pretty much okay with that plan. Trying it anyway.

So thinking, he finds his cigarettes and shoots one out of the pack. The damned matches get loose and slip out of the cellophane to land in the grass, and later Rick thanks the lucky star he must have been born under for this, because when he squats to get them, he sees two dark, silent figures slip over the fence from the Madden’s house to the west, and head for the back door.

***********

AJ is standing in the middle of their old room in his underwear, pajama bottoms and towel in hand, trying to listen to every familiar creak of the house and gauge where Katie is. The guest room light was on and the door was open an inch or two when he hurried by, but he doesn’t want to assume too much and take the chance of upsetting her again. His attentive ears pick up the sound of running water, and then the soft click of a door latch. That must have been her leaving the bathroom and going to bed. Time to get in there, get done, and get to bed himself. And hope by tomorrow that Rick will have gotten past the urge to beat the shit out of him.

He realizes he was wrong a minute too late to get back through his door and hide, and they come face to face as Katie leaves the bathroom in a big gray T-shirt, her hairline damp and her face freshly washed. She really is so beautiful, and so clearly distressed, that he stops her with a raised hand, steeling himself. “Katie, I am so sorry. I never meant to disturb…I mean, I would never have come home if…I should have called, or knocked, or some damned thing. Anyway, it wasn’t my best moment, sweetie. Forgive me?”

The assessment that he made a few days ago was true, they do need to keep this girl around. She clearly sees and hears his distress and she lifts her chin and puts her own embarrassment aside, giving him a shaky smile. “Oh, AJ, of course I do. I’m sure I can trust to the gentleman’s discretion? I mean, I know you’d never hurt him.”

“Or you.” he responds softly. “I apologize. Truly.”

“Thank you. Now can we not talk about it ever again? Like, ever?”

The blonde brother sticks out his hand. “Done.”

“Done.”

The creak of the kitchen door catches his attention as they shake. “That’ll be him I expect. Can't sneak in that door. I’m going to get while the getting’s good. He probably still wants to do me great bodily harm.”

“I’ll go down and talk him out of it.”

He’s just got the shower to the perfect temperature and is about to skin out of his shorts when the handle turns and Katie steps in, her face as white as his towel. “AJ.” she blurts. “It wasn't Rick. It’s Nando.”


	26. Chapter 26

“What? Did you see him?”

Katie nods, struck dumb by terror, flailing for his hand. “AJ! Rick…he’s…”

Consulting his gut gives him the answer for that. “He’s fine. Rick is fine. If he was between them and the door, he’d have stopped them from getting to you and we’d have heard it. So they must have been between him and the door.”

“But why would…”

“Doesn’t matter. Are you absolutely certain it was Nando?”

His calm is communicating itself to Katie through the grip of their hands. “It was him. I think there was someone else though. I didn’t see the other one, but the way Nando was acting…”

“Like he had backup?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. We’re going back to our old room, the room you first slept in. Do you know how to use a gun?”

Her chin lifts and she takes a deep breath. “I’ve never shot at anything but a target, but Grandpa taught me to use his service pistol.”

It’s not the right time, but the gun enthusiast in him comes out. “Was it a Navy Colt? Did he really have one? Those are rare.”

“He still has one. Or…I do, I guess. He’s not allowed to have it now, obviously. It’s in my box at the bank. My Dad’s .38 is there too.”

“Wow.”

“I’ll take you there and let you see them if you like, once the asshole downstairs is handled.” Her tone is still reasonable, but AJ can sense her agitation.

“Right.” Stepping past her to the door, he opens it very quietly, lifting upward on the handle so nothing creaks. “Is Rick’s gun on top of the fridge?”

“Yes.” That’s one of Cecelia’s rules. If a firearm is not attached to the son that brought it, it goes on top of the refrigerator where it can’t hurt anyone. “Did you leave yours down there?”

AJ shakes his head, herding her closer to the wall so their steps will be quieter. “It’s on the desk in my room.”

There are some small noises from the lower level, the creak of a door, the sound of a cautious footfall on the tile of the entryway, then the living room light snaps off.

AJ doesn’t really have time for the stricken look Katie gives him, so he just catches hold of her hand and leads her quickly through the door to the room he left just minutes ago and slowly closes it almost to, leaving himself just a sliver to see the top of the stairs. He’s gotten his Magnum to hand and is checking the loads when he hears the window slide open behind him and he turns to grab Katie around the waist before she can scream.

“What took you so damned long?” AJ hisses at his breathless brother. “You used to be able to do that in the time it took Mom to flip the light on.”

“Let go of my woman, brat. And that was twenty years ago. I was skinnier and the low branches were a hell of a lot lower. Smart ass.”

When Rick catches his breath and straightens up, Katie’s there, a teary smile on her face. And when AJ looks up at the prolonged silence, they’re so far in each other’s space they might as well be mixed, kissing.

“Glad to see me?” Rick whispers when it breaks, kissing her softly again, stroking her flushed face with his thumb when she nods. “I’m glad to see you, too. I’ll get him, Slim. That’s a promise.”

Tucked into his arms, Katie is able to believe such a thing can happen, and she hugs him tightly, murmuring, “I think there are two of them. Should I call Town? Or do you think they cut the wire?”

Rick sets her away with a final taste of her lips. “There are two, I saw them. And I don’t give him credit for that much forward thinking, so you can give it a shot. The way they hit us makes no sense. I mean, if they were watching, why wait for AJ to come home? And if they weren’t watching, what the hell are they thinking in the first place? Did you get the nine down, Aje?”

“No.” The blonde is dressing quietly, slipping his feet into his moccasins. “I’m not sure what good it will be anyway. When was the last time anyone cleaned it?”

Rick is opening the closet door, pressing up onto his toes, slipping a small chunk of the crown molding loose. There’s a dark space behind it, and he carefully draws out a black metal case, which he flips open to reveal a silvered handgun, and a stack of full magazines. “Looks okay.” The gun is checked and loaded in what Katie recognizes as a much faster, much more professional version of what her grandpa taught her to do.

“Did you guys find that spot, or did you make it?”

A look passes between them and a blushing AJ sighs, “Go ahead and tell her. I can see you’re dying to embarrass me. I will tell you that we’ve cleared the air on this evening though, right sweetie? In case that changes your mind.”

“We have.” Katie says softly, “But I still want to hear the story.”

“I found it before he was born. I’ve always been a climber, and I was bored with the toys I could reach, and there it was. Nothing in it, just a nice little rounded off secret space. I hid all kinds of stuff in there. For years.”

“And I never had anything to hide.” AJ adds.

“But he knew it was there. And one day when he was about thirteen he took a look at what I left in it. Magazines.” Rick prompts. “The kind they kept under the counter in those days.”

“Naked ladies...” Katie breathes, eyes sparkling, “…for shame.”

AJ laughs in spite of himself. “They were not ladies.”

“But they were naked.” Rick grins. “It would have been fine if he’d put them back, but…”

“…but I was like a second story man with a bag full of hot diamonds, and I put them under my mattress…”

“… and Mom found them. It was wild. We both got grounded for a month, him for having them, and me for intent to deliver. Someone must’ve talked her down though, because she cut us loose after about a week or so. Or maybe it just took her that long to calm down. He cost me some pictures I remembered quite fondly; Mom burned them, but he did not rat me out on the safe, which was good.”

“What about Mom?” AJ asks. “What if she comes home too?”

Rick takes a look at his watch. “It’s almost one. If she was gonna come home, she’d be here, kiddo. Don’t worry about things we can’t control.”

“I see two ways we can go.” AJ is looking down at the white expanse of sheet on his bed, tracing with one finger. “One, call Town, hide in the attic and wait for the inevitable collision…”

“In which there’d probably be a shitload of gunfire, and he might get away.” Rick reminds.

“Or something else could go wrong.” AJ agrees. “Two, set a trap and see if he’s desperate enough to walk into it.”

“He is, or he wouldn’t be here.” Rick slips the gun into the back of his waistband and goes back to the closet, rummaging around for a minute and then producing a battered baseball bat, which he hands to his girl with a grin. “I got a lot of hits with this. Louisville Slugger – Ted Williams model. Don’t hold back if you have to use it, but try to stay out of the scrum okay?”

Katie accepts it, gripping the handle experimentally. “Okay. Where am I hiding?”

“Guest room closet. We’ll throw something together in the bed to make it look like you’re there, get ourselves between you and them and wait.”

“Do we call Town?” Katie asks again, her eyes flashing wide as Rick puts a warning finger to her lips.

“No time. They’re coming up the stairs.” he whispers. “The fourth one creaks if you don’t know where to step. You go get in that closet, Slim. Keep your head down.”

Katie nods, and Rick nods back, giving her a reassuring smile when she mouths ‘take care, love’ and gently steers her out the door with a hand on the curve of her hip. He and AJ follow noiselessly, making preparations, settling themselves into defensive positions, AJ setting up low, in the corner beside the night table, and Rick himself high, in the shadows of the dresser, where they can create crossfire and still keep the closet covered.

Avoiding the urge to look at each other, they both keep their eyes on the door, listening as the two men head toward their setup, clearing each room. AJ shifts as he hears them in his mother’s room on the other side of the wall he’s leaning on, and Rick yells “…DOWN…” a second before the quiet is shattered by gunfire, rounds punching through the drywall over the blonde’s lowered head. 

While the distraction’s working, the door slams open and Nando’s partner, who Rick has never seen before, steps in, points his 12 gauge at Rick’s head, and unloads both barrels. Luckily, Rick’s mostly not there, having done a quick stop and drop to get inside the arc, and he comes up quick, before the guy can reload, using the butt of the nine as a reasonably effective set of brass knuckles. Thug number two is a lightweight, and he goes down on the third punch.

AJ’s lying flat, right up against the baseboard, waiting for the sliver of respite they’re going to get when Nando has to reload, and when it happens he rolls out, braces his back on the bed frame and returns fire. When he’s out, Rick takes over, firing in a tight pattern.

Neither of them are ready for their quarry to dart through the open door and cover them both. “Drop the guns, cabrones, or I kill you right now.” He chuckles when they do. “not that I’m not gonna kill you anyway, but I’m also gonna let you watch while I get a taste of that little coño.”

Rick snarls warningly, and then loses most of his air when Nando drives a booted toe into his ribs. “I should ask you if she’s good, eh, pendejo? You had yourself some of that chocha? I’m gonna find out for myself. And then I’m going to put a bullet between her eyes.” 

The darkly blued muzzle of the nine is lowered to rest just behind Rick’s ear, and Nando turns to AJ. “Where is she? Now. Or you gonna have your brother’s brains all over you.”

AJ forces himself to wait, dangling the hook a little so that he can make sure it sets. When Nando raps the gun barrel hard against Rick’s skull, drawing blood and a grunt of pain, AJ winces and blurts, “Stop. Stop. She’s in the attic.”

Confronted with two nearly identical doors, Nando spooks, waving the gun at AJ. “You get up and call her down. Get over there. Tell her to come out.”

AJ shoots a quick look at Rick, who nods imperceptibly. Getting to his feet, the blonde brother moves toward the attic door, crossing in front of the closet, hoping against hope that his movements will draw the piece of shit that’s holding a gun on his brother up from the floor and over to the door. Just a little…a little more…and…AJ grabs the handle and twists, opening it six inches or so, enough so he can sell it when he pretends to see Katie, and calls her, putting an urgent tone into his voice, first cajoling and then commanding. 

Nando moves closer, head cocked, straining to catch a sound, obviously wanting to hear Katie’s terror. He takes one step, another, and time seems to slow down as Rick yells, “…now…”

The closet door flies open under the blast of Katie’s foot. The edge catches Nando on the shoulder, and the small shove it gives him probably saves his worthless life, because Katie swings for the fences just like Teddy Ballgame, getting all of her weight behind it and catching Nando high, right in the bundle of muscle where neck and shoulder meet.


	27. Chapter 27

It flattens him, landing him on the floor right next to Rick. When Katie steps out into the room, bat drawn back, to take a look at her handiwork, she sees the blood on Rick’s shirt. Her eyes flare open and AJ jumps back toward her, catching the barrel end of the bat before she can bring it down on Nando’s head. “I get it…” AJ says calmly, wresting the bat away from her, “…I absolutely do. But it really won’t make you feel better. Voice of experience talking.”

“Besides…” Rick rolls over on his back with a groan, “…I’m fine.”

“He shot you!” Katie sobs, letting AJ have the bat and crouching down to pluck at a blood-sticky sleeve.

“He didn’t. His bullshit partner did. Help me up?”

They hear the first wail of sirens as Katie gets both hands under her man’s uninjured arm and levers him to his feet while AJ checks the two men laid out on the carpet, gathering weapons. “You two go down and meet them.” Guns set on the dresser top, he catches Rick and lifts the bloodied cloth enough to get a good look. “And you go straight to the EMTs. Some of those pellets look pretty deep.”

Rick pushes his brother’s hand away. “I’ve been hit worse, kid.”

“Do it anyway.” the blond snaps. “That blast did more than scrape the hide off you, okay? Katie, help him. Even when he glares at you.” AJ smiles at the look and rubs his brother’s arm.

“You be careful with these assholes.” Rick reminds, not complaining a bit when Katie lifts his arm over her shoulder and steadies him.

“I will. Send me some help.”

There is a pair of officers standing in the living room, guns drawn, and as soon as they give Katie a chance, she explains the situation as quickly as possible, advising them to have someone call Lieutenant Brown while they go upstairs and help AJ.

When the cops relay the details to the rest of the crew in the yard, more people come rushing in, including, thankfully, two paramedics with their assorted gear. They take one look at Rick and relieve Katie of him, stripping off his shirt and laying him out on the sofa, already reaching for gauze and antiseptic.

Katie perches in the side chair, her gaze locked on her man’s face, trying to be as calm as he is and not worry about the blood painting his chest and belly.

AJ comes down, followed by the first responders, who have Nando and his minion in handcuffs. “I told them to call Town.” Katie says, grasping the reassuring hand the blond places on her shoulder. 

“They did. He and Lieutenant Fogarty, the drug task force guy, are on their way. Maybe you shouldn’t look.” he suggests as the older of the two EMT rips open an extra-large alcohol wipe and goes at the worst of the holes in Rick’s side with his wound probe while his partner starts laying out bandages.

“You forget my girl’s an old hand at this.” Rick’s eyes are closed, whatever he might be feeling hidden from everyone but himself. “If she can work a ward with a planeload of evacs, she can handle this.”

AJ takes a look at the girl holding his hand and squeezes, giving his support while she bites her lip and smiles bravely. She could handle those guys because she wasn’t in love with any of them. Big difference.

“Stop talking.” the medic orders. “You’re moving around too damned much. I’m pretty sure you don’t want me transporting you, because as messy as these are they’d keep you there. So lay still, don’t talk, and let me get this done, okay?”

Rick nods, settling his breathing, hoping he hasn’t forgotten the trick of willing himself away from the pain.

“And you…” the big man says over his shoulder, “…please take her away. Even people who think they can handle it can get a little freaky-deaky when I start hurting someone they care about. I had a nice matronly lady jump on my back once when I was trying to stop her husband from stroking out. Rather not have to defend myself.”

That seems a fair enough rule, so AJ nods. “We’re going outside to wait for Town, Rick.”

Rick’s far away, but he manages a slow thumbs up.

Slipping an arm around Katie’s shoulders as she stands, AJ lets her lead the way out to the front walk, where she takes deep, slow inhales, leaning on his broad shoulder, tears leaking down her face. “He’s going to be fine, sweetie.” he murmurs, “He really is. I know how you feel, but no matter what he has to take, he can take it. I’ve never known anyone as strong.”

Katie gulps, “I know.” Then she bursts into tears. 

He holds her close and lets her get it out, rubbing her back until she begins to calm. “You went above and beyond…” he whispers to her, slipping his folded handkerchief into her hand. “You were scared, but you came through. You saved our lives. Thank you, by the way.”

When she pushes him away and blushes, wiping her eyes, she whispers, “You’re welcome.”

“There’s a smile.” he murmurs, rubbing her arm. “Hey, I forgot how cold it was out here. I’ll get you something to put on.”

More cars pull up while he’s gone, and Katie waves a hand as Town gets out of one with a musclebound guy in a windbreaker that she recognizes as Fogarty, and they jog toward her.

“Why are you standing out here in just a T-shirt, honey?” Town is already removing his own jacket and holding it out to her. “Is Rick…?”

Katie accepts the offered item and slips into it, shivering at the body heat on her chilly skin. “He’ll be fine. He said so. And the EMT agrees.” 

“Collins, the first guy in, said shotgun wound.” Town’s voice is very even, but his eyes betray his concern.

“Missed mostly. Maybe fifteen of those little pellets hit him. Maybe twenty.”

“Collins also said that you put Mr. Suarez down with a baseball bat.” Fogarty’s been a cop so long he can’t help but sound like he’s interrogating her, and she nods warily. “Damn fine work, young lady. Damn fine.”

“Though I am sorry, Katie…” Town says. “Everything we had said he’d bolted. Good thing Rick didn’t believe it.” His attention skips off her and over her shoulder. “Hey, AJ.”

“Town. Fogarty.” The blond holds out a pair of Katie’s jeans and a sweatshirt. “Here you go, sweetie.”

She grabs the Levis and starts pulling them on, while all three men focus on each other’s faces and try to think of something to say. Handing back Town’s SDPD jacket and pulling her sweatshirt over her head, Katie breaks the silence. “How’s Rick doing, AJ?”

“Almost done. They were putting staples in his head when I went by. Nando smacked him harder than I thought.”

Fogarty’s attention sharpens. “Is he concussed?” 

“That I don’t know. Why?”

The big man shrugs. “We need a statement. And you know lawyers. If they can come up with any reason you might not have seen what you know you saw, they will. I want this guy convicted. If I can’t put him down, I want to put him away. So far away he never sees the sun as a free man again. I’m sure you and your brother, not to mention the pretty lady with the home run swing here, want that too.”

“We do.” Katie avers. “I’ve never been afraid for my life until this week. Mama was bad, but not like him. He’s not a product of society or horrible life experience. He’s just evil.”

“I agree one hundred percent.” Fogarty says, “…so we really need to separate the three of you and get something down on tape from each of you. Asap. If your brother’s up to it.”

“Well…” AJ begins, and then the EMTs come clattering down the step, hefting their cases. “You done? Is he…okay?”

The guy who made Katie leave is the same guy that was wielding the stapler; and he stops in their midst. “We’re done. He’s puking.”

Katie’s eyes fly open and she starts forward only to be caught by the back of her sweatshirt. “Don’t. Give him a minute to get it under control.” A serious finger presses into AJ’s chest. “Hey, next of kin, we hit him with a tetanus, but he refused anything for the pain, and, as you know, he refused to be transported. So I am communicating to you the need for medical intervention for him within twelve hours. He needs a chest X-ray to make sure there’s nothing hiding from us. And he needs something strong enough to zone him out for a while, okay, get me?”

“Got it…” the younger brother murmurs. “Thank you.”

The guy thumps AJ on the shoulder with his fist. “Doing my duty to the taxpayers.” His gaze veers to Katie. “You can probably go to him now, miss.”

Instead of heading toward the house, she strides across the grass and hugs him, hard. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome too.” All of them watch those long legs carry her into the house, and he sighs. “Some guys get all the damned luck. C’mon junior, we need to get back on the grid.”

AJ rubs his hands over his face. “Okay, we’re going to give Rick and Katie a few minutes, so find me a cop with a recorder and I’ll go first.”

“Lindahl!” Town yells, beckoning to the tall officer that’s been directing traffic, “…find a rookie to do that and come here.”


	28. Chapter 28

“Hey…” Katie steps into the bathroom and runs a hand up Rick’s bare shoulder, eyeing the white squares of bandage scattered across his torso.

He splashes another double handful of water on his face and straightens up, reaching for the hand towel. “Hey, Slim.”

“How are you doing? Okay?”

“Better anyway…now that I got rid of the spring rolls.”

Katie gives him a sad face, spoiled only a little by her giggle. “Be a while before we have those again, huh?”

“Definitely. Town out there?” Rick whips the towel back over the bar and accepts the clean shirt she’s holding out.

“Nope...” a deep voice responds, “…I’m in here. How are you doing?” 

They exchange a smile and Katie presses a kiss to his lips, then precedes him out into the hall where the detective is waiting. “Still standing.” Rick grunts as he buttons his shirt. “What’d you do with AJ?”

“He’s giving his statement. Which is exactly what you two are going to do. Then you’re probably going to want to go home, Katie. We sent units to your apartment and AJ’s house as soon as we knew what the situation was here, and…”

“How bad is it?” Katie’s rubbing her forehead, eyes closed, trying not to think of all the personal things that Nando probably had his hands on.

“The uniforms on site found your door kicked in, but to them it looked like the dynamic duo there more tossed stuff around than took anything.”

Rick sits on the end of the couch, carefully leaning until his back hits the cushions and he can feel the support. “Good thing you weren’t there.”

“Seems to be pretty much the same kind of thing at AJ’s. Where’s Marlowe by the way? They couldn’t find him, and the door was open…”

“Carlito took him over to their house for the week.” Rick answers, frowning. “Did they steal anything?”

“We kind of need you to tell us that, but it doesn’t look like it. They didn’t get to the gun cabinet – I asked. Mostly just shook the place up. But you aren’t going there for a while; you’re going to the doctor when we’re done with you. AJ’s not letting you get out of that.”

“That’s what he thinks. Wake me up when you’re ready for the story…” Rick sighs, closing his eyes as Katie sits next to him and takes his hand.

Town doesn’t push on the medical situation, glad it’s not his battle, but he looks over his shoulder as two of his most senior patrol officers come in the open front door. “Ready right now. Faster you do it, the faster it’s over. Katie, this is Officer Chase, he will take your statement in the kitchen. Officer Gavrilo, the invalid here is Rick. Take a seat when the lady gets up, and get something on tape while he’s still coherent.” The lieutenant grins that unrepentant grin he’s so good at. “Thank you citizens; have a nice day.”

***********

The sun is coming up in a blaze of orange, cops and techs are still wandering around the rooms, and Katie is making sausage and pancakes for everyone when a stunned Cecelia walks into her battered home, her gaze sweeping the living room for her sons.

“Mom, everything’s fine…” AJ begins, getting wearily to his feet and reaching to hug her.

She returns the hug, patting his broad shoulder. “Whatever his name is must have finally shown up. Is Katie all right?”

“She’s fine. She’s making breakfast for everyone.” AJ takes hold of his mother’s slender shoulders. “Rick got shot.”

“What?” Cecelia cries out. “Why didn’t you tell me? Where is he? What happened?”

“I did tell you.” AJ speaks calmly, holding her firmly but gently. He spent an uncountable number of evenings sitting beside her while she watched the news footage from Vietnam, quietly holding her trembling hands whenever the scenes were Marines in combat. Luckily he’d been home when she got the news that Rick had been wounded, otherwise she might have just shaken apart. “He’s going to be fine, Mom. It wasn’t bad. He’s upstairs trying to rest.”

“No he’s not…” Rick steps off the last stair and waits while his mother comes at him with fire in her eye. 

“How do you always manage to be the one that gets himself hurt?” she pleads, even though she knows exactly what his priorities are when people he cares about are in danger, touching his cheek and then wrapping her arms as far around him as she can, bringing her eldest son close to her heart.

Rick winces when she puts pressure on a couple of the wounds, but he hugs her back just as tightly. “I love you too, Mom. And your wallpaper got hurt a lot worse.”

“Who cares about the wallpaper…”

“That’s a very good outlook, Mom.” AJ interjects, “You were looking to remodel anyway, so you can just knock down the rest of the wall between the guest room and your room and have that whole corner of the house.”

“The rest of the wall?” She releases Rick with a gentle kiss to his cheek. “I suppose I’d better go see what’s left…if it’s not a crime scene anymore, Lieutenant?”

Town waves a hand. “It’s not, Mrs. S. The pictures have all been taken and the evidence all collected. I’ve got the name of a good builder if you need it.” 

“Thank you, but no, I’ve been using the same people since Rick broke through the back of the linen closet into the upstairs shower when he was six.”

The gang of cops has a collective laugh at Rick’s muttered ‘cool story, mom’, but they stop immediately when Katie emerges from the kitchen to the dining room with Cecelia’s biggest platter full of food and calls out, “Breakfast. Oh. Hi, Mrs. Simon. I kind of borrowed your kitchen.”

Cecelia gives a gracious smile, taking everything in stride. “Well it looks delicious, dear. I’ll be right back down and have some.”

**************

A number of frankly envious looks are being thrown Rick’s way as Katie keeps the table supplied with food, hot coffee, warmed syrup, and all the other various things that make breakfast perfect. It’s come pretty clear this morning, even to relative strangers, how the two feel about one another, even though they’re not touching, or even staring at each other. But Rick got the first stack of pancakes, and his cup is never empty.

Town’s no stranger, and he keeps the good-natured needling bullshit he wants to throw at Rick every time the girl leaves the room to himself. For now at least. You don’t pick on a guy in front of his mother. But the next time it’s just him and the Simon boys he’s not going to hold back, after all the teasing he takes about Temple. 

He knows he ought to call time and get his own troops back on the grid, but all these people deserve a little down time for the shit they’ve been put through breaking up this cartel, and he makes his final cup of coffee last until he notices AJ placing his silverware on his plate straight up and down; the well-known fine dining signal for ‘I’m done’. Here’s where they’ll see if the young lady really has any influence. Rick hates doctors, won’t go unless he’s losing blood by the pint or bones are protruding, and prefers to self-medicate with margaritas. So far as Town’s seen, even the combined worry of his brother and his mom usually can’t sway him.

“All right, Rick.” AJ’s tone is no-nonsense, settled in for the argument he knows is coming, “Finish your coffee and get your hat. I called Raj and he set you up an appointment.”

“Raj?” Rick makes a show of pressing his fingers to his throat to the general laughter of his audience. “Sorry, kid, I know you’d prefer to be an only child, but I’ve still got a pulse. Taking me to the coroner seems a little excessive.”

“Possibly, but I was given a timetable and he already knows what a pain in the ass you are, so I won’t have to spend time explaining when you act like a pouty four-year-old.” Harsh as it sounds, this is the truth, Raj is probably the only doctor Rick will tolerate, and working with dead people all day makes him almost completely resistant to any kind of attitude.

“I wouldn’t act like a four-year-old if I didn’t get treated like one. Doctors ask you questions, and then do whatever the hell they want anyway.”

“Well if you’d listen when they try to explain things to you…”

While she eats, Katie is absorbing every word, watching their body language. This is the first serious argument she’s seen them have, and while they probably don’t know it, when they argue Rick and AJ look like twins, right down to the tilt of their heads when they glare at one another. Their characters aren’t so different either. The only authority either of them truly responds to besides themselves is each other, and this is your basic ‘trust me’ fight. Rick expects to be trusted to know what’s best for him, and AJ expects to be trusted to judge when that line has been crossed.

Instinct makes her look up to find Cecelia smiling at her, and she smiles back, lifting her eyebrows in silent question. Cecelia shakes her head, quietly sipping at her coffee and giving a tiny ‘be my guest, but don’t say I didn’t warn you’ wave.

“I think…” Katie begins, waiting while they wind down to silence, withstanding the anticipation of every single person in the room. “…that if anyone can tell when you’re not all right, Rick, it would be AJ; you’re together eighteen hours a day. And you can’t just go sleep it off if there is a stray chunk of bullet in your chest.”

“You’re saying he’s right?” Rick challenges, that brilliant blue gaze focusing on her.

“I’m saying you took a hell of a hit and he’s worried about you. Just like you would be if the situation were reversed. He wouldn’t even get to argue with you this long.”

“Girl’s got you there, man.” Town observes drily. “You’d have him by the collar of his little alligator shirt before he could move. Just like when that guy with the ransom money tried to run him over, you remember that?”

“Yeah.” Rick growls. It wasn’t pretty. AJ had gone rolling down an embankment and nearly got knocked out.

Rick hasn’t seen Katie’s gorgeous smile in a couple of hours, and its reappearance as she watches him work it all out in his head reminds him of her essential beauty. “So…?” she prompts softly.

“So I guess I’m going to the doctor.”


	29. Chapter 29

Katie has all the broken glass swept into one big pile, cardboard box at the ready, when she hears the knock on her newly installed front door. It took her most of the day, but everything is pretty well back in order, though kind of bare. Nando and his creepy pal broke nearly everything that was breakable, including the television, the stereo, all the dishes and every single one of her frames. They also dumped all the plants out of their pots and one of them took a piss on her rug. That went down to the dumpster first thing. Still she has to be thankful that they didn’t destroy her clothes or tear up her pictures, or set anything on fire. Small blessings, but still there.

Her new door has a peephole, so she uses it, even though she’s pretty sure who’s standing on the other side of it. They both look tired, Rick more so than AJ, and she twists the locks, wanting to get him inside before the weariness gets the better of him.

“Hi.” she says brightly, leaning on the frame after she swings the door wide.

AJ smiles at her, hand gently holding his brother upright. “Hello, young lady. Could I interest you in a slightly damaged private detective? Cosmetic only. Raj says he still functions correctly. Correction – as correctly as he ever did.” 

“Already interested, thanks. But I thought you’d take him home and make him rest.” 

Rick smiles at her as she ushers them in, and AJ snorts, “Fat chance. He established that I was going to end up bringing him here before he’d let go of the gearshift in mom’s driveway.”

Parking his exhausted brother on the sofa, AJ picks up the dustpan off the coffee table, and holds it next to the pile of glass, waiting while she applies the broom. “Did they break every single thing they got their hands on, sweetie?”

“Pretty much. My clock radio made it, except they killed its clock and all it can do is radio.” The box rumbles as they fill it, working together until they get the last crumbs. “Thanks, hon. How bad is your house?”

“I haven’t been there, so I don’t know.”

Katie’s gaze shifts from Rick, who has stretched out on her sofa with his hat over his eyes, to AJ. “Who’s going to help you clean up?” 

“Mom was going to head over there as soon as she was done with the builder…and this is nowhere near the first time this has happened to me. There’s a service that’ll come in and do everything from carpets to ceilings.”

“He’s got ‘em on speed dial.” Rick murmurs from under his hat. “They even patch bullet holes.”

AJ reaches in his jacket pocket and hands over a prescription bottle and a plastic bag full of sterile gauze pads and rolls of surgical tape. “I’ll be fine. You’re going to have your hands full taking care of him. Send him home if he gets unruly.”

Stepping in to kiss his cheek, Katie says, “Will do. If you need him before say…Thursday…call.”

“Don’t need me.” Rick growls. “I’m too damned tired to be needed.”

Already on his way to the door, AJ stops and grabs hold of his brother’s boot, shaking it very gently. “I’ll do my best to leave you alone. Take care.”

There’s something in that tone, and Rick pushes his hat back and looks his little brother in the eye. “Thanks kid.”

“Welcome.” 

Then he’s out the door, and Katie sets her burdens down and perches on the edge of the table, leaning over to take her man’s hat and set it beside her, soft smile on her face as he raises his eyebrow at her. “C’mon. Get up. You need a proper bed and some real rest.” 

“So I should get up?”

“I said a proper bed. Now c’mon, up.” She takes his hand and stands up, waiting while he gets to his feet and leading him after her toward the half-wall and the painted screen that hides her sleeping area from the rest of the apartment. When he’s at the edge of her freshly made bed, she pushes gently on his belt buckle until he sits down; then starts in on his shirt buttons, noting that someone re-bandaged him today as she bares his chest.

“Was she a pretty nurse?”

“Huh? Who?” he grumbles; leaning into her hands with a deep groan of pleasure as she rubs his shoulders and massages the tense lines of his neck.

Touching the nearest square with a gentle finger, she murmurs, “The who that did these.”

“His name is Burton something and he’s Raj’s first assistant. The last time he worked on a non-dead person before today was six years ago when his neighbor fell down her steps and he got her an ice pack. I heard all about it. But he does make a mean butterfly bandage, doesn’t he?”

“They’re very nice.” Katie slips the shirt down and off, turning to lay it over the top of the screen. “Up, please.”

“up…down…up…make up your mind, huh Slim.”

“This is the last up, I promise.” 

There’s an alluring hint of hunger in this grumble, as she pushes the tab of his belt through the loops and deftly unbuckles him. It travels further down into his chest and evens out into what almost could be classified as a purr if there were a cat big enough to make it, as she unbuttons his Riders and runs down the zip. “Mmmmmmm…I’m getting naked this time.” he whispers, drawing her in.

Katie tips her chin down, walling off her own excitement as she slides her hands into the faded seat of his jeans and pushes them down over his lean, muscular ass. “Do you sleep naked?”

“With beautiful women I do.”

Running a finger across his flat belly, she feels his muscles jump as she stops at his navel and plucks at the tight waistband of his dark gray boxers. “Well, I’ll be leaving these on then…”

He does look like a four-year-old when he pouts. “Aw, jeez, Slim. Not fair.” 

“Fair. You need sleep, and you know it.” She reaches past his hip and tosses the covers to the end of the bed. “Down, please.”

Rick takes a look. The bed seems awfully soft and it’s a ton better made than he can do on his best day, and to top it all off it smells like her, and if he’s going to be honest with himself, resistance is futile.

Once he’s sitting she steps back and tugs his boots off, setting them together by the closet door, then grabs his cuffs and tugs his jeans down and off, standing to toss them on top of his shirt. His socks go last, and she nudges him over and down until his head hits the pillow. The cool sheet and the top edge of her comforter are pressed into his hands. “Cover up. I’m going to get your meds.”

Rick pulls Donald Duck up under his chin, relaxed beyond words. Her bed is awesome and it can only get better once he gets her in it with him. His eyes are closing fast, but he still registers her presence when she moves up beside him, pill bottle in one hand and a bright pink plastic champagne flute in the other. “What the hell? What are we celebrating?”

“Buying new glassware.” she giggles. “It’s water.” She shows him the pill bottle and the typed label. “I looked at these when AJ gave them to me and they’re pretty strong. So I’d really like you to take them now, while I still have things to do and can keep an eye on you. Then, in a few hours, when I know you’re all right and I have this place back the way I want it, I will get in bed with you. Okay?”

“You in bed with me is better than okay, darlin. There’s nothing I want more than to continue where we left off.” Katie bends and gives him a kiss so loaded with promise that for a minute all his brain has room for is her. Then he growls “…hand ‘em over” and swallows them quick, draining the pink cup. “I want to feel you in my arms when I wake up, Slim.”

“You will.” Leaning on his flat belly with one hand, she sets the cup on her shelf, and Rick sees the remains of her figurine, broken into at least three pieces.

“Oh damn, the bastards broke Donald.”

“Yeah.” Katie picks up the biggest chunk and turns it over in her hand. “I can live without a TV, but the duck…that hurts.”

“What’s on his other side?”

She turns the fragile china, back to front and back again. “He’s two-faced. Cranky. Ecstatic. Mad as hell. Overjoyed. Daddy used to call him ‘Katie’s weathervane’, and he’d turn him around and around and around. It made me furious when I was small, but it was a lesson I needed to learn; how my behavior affected other people. ” 

“He was a good dad.”

“He was. And this was…you know…the thing that connected us. The tangible thing that he touched and I touched. It’s silly.”

“No it’s not.” Rick takes the duck’s upper half and puts him carefully back with the other pieces, then gently maneuvers Katie up on top of him, wrapping his arms around her, stroking her back soothingly while she cries. “I’ve got a baseball that works just like that.”

“You do?”

“I do. It’s never failed me yet.” A huge yawn gets the better of him and he mumbles, “…don’t throw him away now…get him fixed for you…stay right here til I fall asleep, huh Slim?...you’re so…”

When he doesn’t continue, Katie lifts her head from his shoulder, gently touching his lips while he slumbers, wondering exactly what she’s so… Slipping off his body and then off the bed to get back to work, she decides that’ll be the first question she asks him when they wake up together.


	30. Chapter 30

Van Morrison is singing very quietly when Rick wakes. It’s ‘Tupelo Honey’, a song he has always liked, and he lays still in the cool dark of the room and listens to that beautifully accented voice, not wanting to move too much and dislodge the warm, lovely woman who’s sleeping, he can feel, absolutely bucktail naked in his arms. 

Or maybe just cuddling. “Stupid thing. How can the alarm go off when it doesn’t even know what time it is? That’s nuts.” Katie yawns and stretches, pressing up to turn it off, then settling back down against him with a sigh. “Sorry. It must be five-thirty, that’s when I usually get up.”

“Why?”

Her delicious giggle shakes through him and he closes his eyes and spares a moment to thank fate or whoever-the-hell for what he has here. What he has a chance at, what this can become for the two of them.

“Because I need time to myself in the morning. I spend almost all of my day with other people, and that’s the way I get ready for it. What time do you usually get up?”

“When the coffee’s done. Or AJ starts throwing stuff.”

Katie snorts and her long legs stir against his under the covers. “What am I so?”

It’s too dark to see her eyes, so he’s not really sure whether this is a serious question or not. “Ummm. You got me. I have no clue what you’re talking about, Slim.”

He doesn’t care what she’s talking about for a long, wonderful moment as she braces a hand on either side of his chest and squirms up on top of him, soft full breasts and smooth thighs caressing, but he manages to focus again when she rubs her nose against his. “Last night when you were falling asleep, you told me not to throw Donald away cause you could get him fixed, which I didn’t. Then you asked me to stay with you til you fell asleep, which I did. Then you said ‘you’re so…’. Then you checked out.” Soft fingertips play over the sharp stubble on his chin, and a tender kiss presses on his lips. “So what am I so?”

Rick considers for a minute. He still doesn’t have a clue, but it could have been any of the million things he feels about her. “Soft.” he murmurs, walking his fingertips excitingly up her spine. “Warm. Silky.” He lets his hand travel back down to her taut, curved bottom, squeezing gently. “Gorgeous.” Using the grip he has on her trim hips, he rolls her slowly to her back, giving her his weight, kissing her again and again. “Mine.” he growls when it breaks and she’s gasping against his mouth.

“I like that…” she breathes, arching up to kiss him again, hands gently exploring. “Are you feeling okay, love? Are you in any pain?”

“A little. But if you think I’m stopping wherever you’re taking this, you’re mistaken, darlin.”

His beautiful girl giggles again, and it’s his turn to gasp as she moves, hands slipping teasingly into his underwear, then up his back, then across his belly, where she pushes, reversing him until she’s on top again. A soft kiss falls on his lips, then she’s moving down, her hands dipping back into his boxers, tenting her fingers over his hipbones and pushing the soft cotton down. The gasp becomes a groan when the elastic gives just enough and his cock springs free. “Oh. Is all this for me?” Katie whispers, taking him in hand, stroking slowly from root to tip. “Beautiful.” Gentle fingers linger, tenderly caressing the softest skin where shaft becomes crown. “You’re so hard. Can I taste you? Do you like that?”

“You should try it and see…” he manages, reaching to push at the cloth binding at his thighs.

A gentle but insistent hand is planted on his chest. “You stay right there.”

So he drops back flat to the bed, hand searching for the pillow above his head, hauling it down and settling it under his head. He knows himself well enough to be aware that a lot of what he likes about blowjobs is seeing a girl get her mouth around him. And that’s just other girls. Watching this particular girl give him this particular pleasure ought to be heaven.

Katie drops a kiss on the furred line that trails from his navel downward as she straightens his underwear enough to get them down and off, then moves back up, kneeling between his legs, eyeing her prize. She’s never been in possession of anyone quite this big before, and it has been awhile, but her heart is pounding with a fierce desire to please him the way he pleased her.

She begins with kisses, soft and sweet, scattered over the hard shaft and silken crown, spreading his legs further so she can fondle the warm heft of his scrotum, gently tracing the round shapes it holds. Rick moans, low and needy, catching a handful of her dark hair and pushing it up. It’s not difficult to get the hint and she straightens up, moving so the heavy mass falls over her far shoulder, catching his eye and smiling at him as her head descends. 

More kisses, centering on the smooth tip, her tongue sweeping up and down over his slit, tasting his musk. One of her deliciously distracting hands goes back to rolling his balls, coaxing the drops to a trickle, which she watches pool and then slowly laps up.

This is nowhere near the first time he’s had a blowjob, and she’s not doing anything out of the ordinary, but Rick feels like his nerves are on fire wherever her soft mouth falls. Not to mention that his hips are arching every time her hands dare a new expanse of his skin. He wants. Badly. All he can think about is how tight and soft and wet her sex was, clamping down on his fingers. How deep he wants to be inside her when she comes like that again.

Katie feels the arch, the heat, the hardening, and her thoughts travel the same line, anticipating the power of his thrusts inside her body. But he’s so responsive to her and even though she’s not really sure how far she can draw him out, every unconscious movement is telling her what he needs, so she decides to go for it, not at all averse to the thought of him coming in her mouth if she miscalculates.

She bends farther over his prone body, mouth open, keeping his hard tip poised on her bottom lip. Gentle exploration gives her the measure of him, and she deliberately holds her mouth tighter as she waits for his arch. When she gets it, she opens a shade and moves down, inviting his thrust upward, giving him the delicious sensation of penetration.

A hot shiver of triumph rushes up her spine as he yells, his hand fisting in her hair as he pushes into the warm wetness of her mouth. She can hear him stuttering, trying to ask her if he can, even as he pulls back a fraction and urges her down, driving up slowly, groaning deeply at the pleasure of the stroke.

Relaxing her throat, Katie does go down, just as far as she possibly can, fighting the gag, and then back up, worshipping his shaft, slow and hot and dizzying. Heart rate climbing, his body clamoring for the primal pleasure of orgasm, Rick buries his hands in the soft waves of her hair, not controlling or guiding, his thumb just brushing the hotspot under her ear, returning the intimacy she’s so sweetly offering as she works him.

Good as the slow strokes feel, if he’s honest with himself, Rick knows that his heart and mind want Katie’s pleasure, and his male pride wants her tacked to the mattress, thighs tight on his ribs, clutching his back the first time he comes with her.

So he lets his hand drift down her face, gently stroking the fine curve of her jaw, easing her upward and off.

“Does this mean you don’t like it?” she pants, running her hands up his lean waist. “You sure sounded like you were liking it.”

Her soft yelp of surprise as he surges up and wraps his arms around her, needy hands trying to touch her everywhere at once, draws a warm growl out of him. “I liked it. A lot. But I want you to like it too.” He can feel her drawing breath to protest, so he kisses her, and the feel of his own heat, the taste of his own pleasure on her tongue, brings the caveman out, and he puts her under him in a heartbeat, pressing down, spreading his scent over her skin.

Slender arms wrap around his neck and she comes back at him with all that spark he loves, mouth open on the hard column of his neck, lifting a long leg up to twine with his and bring him closer. The bite to his ear is all joyful eagerness, and then she whispers, “gimme dat.”

He bursts out laughing, high and happy, feeling her laughter against his body as they hold each other tight. Eventually they dry up into little snorts and giggles, sharing a kiss or two, letting the connection develop, their bodies moving with the instinctive grace of lovers as Katie reclines and Rick moves up over her, gently parting her legs to settle his hips between them. 

Melting with need, Katie reaches to stroke his erection, leading him to her entry, kissing his throat as he strokes her long thigh up over his hip, moving just enough to give them both a tantalizing taste of the friction to come.

Rick holds her there, savoring the silk of her skin, the frantic beat of her heart against his chest, the soft, wet warmth inviting his penetration. A thought comes to him, and he wills it away, but it’s a persistent little thought, and even Katie’s small disappointed moan doesn’t stop him from pulling back from her.

“Rick? What…?”

But he’s already up, off the bed, searching. Jeans…wallet… “Praise Jesus.”

Katie sees what he’s holding in the dim light and starts to laugh again. “And the Lord spake unto his people, saying, let there be condoms.”

When he tosses, she catches. “We both know I’d never be able to pull out, so…”

“So come back here.” So he does, smiling over the look on her face as she gets him back in the bed and rolls it on. “What?” 

“You’re beautiful, Slim. You know that?”

Her soft hand slips up his belly and over his hard chest. “I know you think I am…and for the first time in a long time, I think I could believe it.”

“Well then…let’s see if we turn out to be as good at this as we think we are.”


	31. Chapter 31

The kiss begins slowly, but in a moment the heat between them flares and they can’t get close enough fast enough. Katie slips down, flat on her back, urging him up over her, one hand guiding his hips, the other firmly stroking his hardness. Rick responds, gently pulling her trim thighs apart, lifting her into the joining.

The soft sob of surrender that escapes her when he mounts sends a thrill through him and he growls deep in his chest, holding her poised, feeling the incredible sensation of her body stretching to accommodate his.

Then she’s arching, slim hips angling upward in invitation, moaning his name, calling him to her with every wile a female has. He couldn’t resist if he wanted to, but he does keep her there for a long moment, sharpening her need and his own. They only get one first time and…

“Do I have to…say gimme… again?” she pants, hands roaming his chest. “Because I…I…I…” Words dissolve into a sweet, gasping cry as he tugs her to him, sheathing himself all the way in one deep thrust.

They tremble together, both overloaded by the sensation, Rick struggling to keep his control, and Katie wanting only for him to lose it and overload her all the way. It’s strange to admit, but she’d kind of forgotten how good this could feel. Or maybe it just never felt this good, because he’s touching places she’s never been touched.

If Rick knew what she was thinking, he would heartily agree. It’s never felt this good. She’s so soft and narrow and deep, taking everything he can offer, no _go slow_ , no _too much_. Only warm, wet grasping, snug around his cock, and long legs wrapping his hips, gentle hands rubbing upward along his spine. 

Message received and internalized, he lowers his head and kisses the breath out of her, beginning the rhythm, slowly drawing away, coming back to her just as slowly, letting their bodies find the fit.

It’s all about angle and penetration, and they press closer to one another, both voicing unconscious growls of pure heat, when they find their perfect combination. They each give up trying to control their connection at the same moment, and let nature and mutual trust take over.

Long minutes pass as they meet and part and meet again, pace increasing, hearts pounding, soft cries met with deeper groans and harder thrusts. The cries spiral upward into hot needy sobs; strong hands slowly tip slender hips and Rick anchors deep, hitting her softest, innermost muscles, quick and sharp and hard.

The noise she makes as she convulses around him, climax tearing through her body with hurricane intensity, is that same uncivilized female animal he heard before, turned completely loose this time, and the male animal in him answers, catching her chin, turning her head until he can bite at the hotspot under her ear, savoring the hot shivers that thunder through her as she comes again, her hips jerking upward.

A low groan of pleasure rumbles up from deep in his chest as he feels the hot spill of her cream, slicking the way for the last few deep thrusts he can manage before his own orgasm surges through him, and he pins her hips and drills her hard, hips flexing just the slightest with each jet of semen, feeling his lovely partner quake in response, until neither of them can make another move and they slip into the halfway as one.

************

The phone rings midmorning on Thursday, as they’re sprawled on the couch together with the newspaper, coffee and the few sugary remnants of a Sara Lee coffeecake. They’ve been out of her apartment exactly once since Saturday night, a short trip early Sunday morning when the last condom had been used and Katie realized there was nothing in the fridge but a carton of elderly eggs and a bottle of fermenting orange-pineapple juice.

Katie stirs, disentangling her feet from his and setting aside the Local section, reaching behind her to snag the handset.

“Hello? Hello, AJ honey, how are you? Good…mmhm…yes, I would say he is in excellent working order this morning. Pretty well healed. Close enough for government work anyway. Sitting right next to me with his coffee cup in hand.” She shoots a look at Rick, who has to be the most relaxed human being on the planet, and lifts her eyebrows. “I’ll ask.”

“Would you like to talk to your little brother? He’s got a client for the two of you.”

It would be easy to just take the phone, but not nearly as much fun, so he grabs his girl and lifts her on top of him bodily, settling soft bottom, only barely covered by her panties, into his groin and lets her put the phone to his ear, feeling the giggles shake through her.

“What?”

AJ doesn’t sound any too overworked himself. “Got a job. You…back in the saddle…so to speak?”

“I suppose I could put my pants on. Once I get this gorgeous girlfriend of mine out of my lap.”

“That’s almost precisely what I expected you to say. So I set the meeting for three o’clock this afternoon. And, strictly in my personal experience, it works better if you keep her in your lap.”

“Well I am hanging up then. Three o’clock?”

“At the office. Have fun.”

“I plan to. Bye.”

Smiling softly, Katie pushes the button to cut the connection and tosses the cordless to the floor, shifting her leg over until she’s straddling him, cotton meeting cotton as she rubs her panties against his boxers. “Three o’clock huh?”

“Yeah.” Rick leans back against the sofa cushions, slipping his hands up under her shirt, stroking silky bare skin. Warm limbs twine around him like a liana on a cedar, getting as close as possible. He can feel her trembling, and when he tries to get her to lift her chin and look at him, she fights. “Hey Slim…hey…what’s wrong?”

“That’s not the end of this, right? I mean I know it’s the end for right now, but it’s not the end of this, this. Is it? It can’t be. You called me your girlfriend.”

Holding down the rush of feeling, and the adoring words that want to pour out of him, Rick murmurs, “I sure did, didn’t I. That…uh…that…okay with you, Slim?”

She’s sure looking at him now, those beautiful hazel eyes that first attracted him focused on his. “Yes.”

Catching her beautiful face gently with both hands, he brings her into a sweet kiss. “I promise to appreciate you, and not to try to make you be someone you’re not. Okay?”

A tiny little nod. “Yep. This is going to be awesome you know.” Lifting her own hand, she takes his from where it rests on her cheek and twines their fingers slowly. It strikes him that that’s called a love-knot, and they’ve been doing it unconsciously, practically since they met.

“It’s already been awesome. I don’t think there’s a word for where it’s gonna end up.”

Soft lips find his and the damp point of her tongue quests into his mouth. “I think there is…” she whispers as she pulls away long enough to catch her breath.

“What is it?” he growls as he sweeps her T-shirt off, gently fondling her breasts as she arches to his touch.

“If you haven’t figured it out by the time we get there, I’ll be forced to conclude that you’re not the detective you appear to be.”

“Well I better get to work then.” And he does.


End file.
